Bites, Love, Hunger
by Shitza
Summary: I love you, but I hate you. I want you, and yet my mind is telling me to stay away. I know you mean no harm, but how can I trust you? You're not even alive. You're a vampire. Prequel to Bites, Blood, Immortality. WARNING: Vampire story that will contain sexual hints and blood. Pairings: Sufin, and occasional DenNor.
1. A new dawn breaks

Here we go. This story is a prequel of the story: Bites, Blood, Immortality, a DenNor vampire story, with Iceland as one of the more important characters. But, because all the Nordics are in it, and I really didn't get a ton of things said about Sweden or Finland, I decided to make this prequel. This is a vampire story, but I kind of concocted my own version of vampires mainly based on the actual European myths, some additions from the TV-series blood ties. I hope you enjoy!

This story can well be read on its own, and won't spoil the other story. It's not extremely related to the main story, more than to explain how Berwald (Sweden) and Tino (Finland) met.

Pairing: Swe/Fin and hints of Nor/Den

Genre: Romance/Fantasy

Rating: M (for blood and adult hints)

Ps: I know Berwald's speech is incredibly poor throughout the beginning of this story, but remember... we're in Finland in this story. Finnish is nothing like Swedish, hence I would guess he would be near incomprehensible. His speech will improve as the story goes on, but for now I'll put his speech inside (...)-marks.

**Bites, Love, Hunger**

**Chapter 1**

**A new dawn breaks,**

**but you stay on your guard.**

I know what you might think. My mother must have dropped me or something shortly after birth. Why else would I have been like that. Grandma used to say I had an imagination that rivalled those of the renaissance artists. What I saw that day probably changed my life for good, and cursed me as well.

I am Tino. I was born in what used to be the Swedish region of Finland. Back then, Finland was not a nation, it had since long been claimed by the Swedish monarchs and stayed as a large part of Sweden for many years. And because of this, I, who was born within the nobility, had to keep close to these traditions.

Not that it ever mattered to me. I was always the oddball in the society, but maybe I should tell you what happened from the start.

-000-

Tino was only six years old when he first saw a vampire. Therefore, he had always believed in their existence. His room had access to a hanging ivy, and back then he was light enough to climb down it. This was something that happened whenever he felt alone, which often happened because his parents fought verbally.

His grandma had died the year before. She had been the one who cared for him the most, and when his worst fears stroke, usually involving the horror od death she would say: "When people died, they became stars." Tino was small and believed her. He would, whenever the nights were clear, climb out of his room, down the ivy and walk away from the towering mansion to try and go to the stars. It never worked, they were too far away. So he would talk to them, hoping to find her among them.

But at the same time the stars were frightening. They seemed so alone up there. And they had to be so lost and lonely. No, dying was something he didn't even want to think of. Every time he did he just got the worst of nightmares.

His short legs brought him to his favourite spot. It was a clearing by the trees in the forest closest to their mansion. Here no one would look for him, and it was quite safe. Sure, there were animals and an occasional wolf, but he was good at climbing and thankfully predators could not climb.

He sat down on a rock, and gazed up.

"Hello up there grandma, wherever you are. Mommy and daddy fought today. Daddy was going on about mommy wasting money, and that there is some sort of problem. I don't know what they were talking about, but no one would explain to me. I tried to ask my nanny, but she told me not to bother."

He sighed.

"I don't think mommy and daddy loves me. Mommy walked by the nursery, but she shouted at nanny and told her to leave. Then she came to lecture me, saying I was useless. I don't understand grandma? How can I make mommy love me? She blamed me for a lot of things, most I couldn't even hear because she was so angry."

He hugged his knees.

"I am scared grandma. I don't think mommy loves me. Daddy doesn't love me. I want to be loved. It's all I want."

He looked up, hopefully to see if his grandma would answer him, but there was nothing. There were no answers, not even a twinkle from the star. As always they were cold and distant. He sighed. Maybe his grandma had a different star, one he couldn't see.

He decided to head back home, when he heard rustling in the bushes. Thinking it was a dangerous animal he scrambled up one of the birches, and hid among the branches.

Two shadows emerged, and it was just by pure luck that he noticed them. They moved in an ungodly speed. He was frozen in fear as one of the shadows suddenly stopped. It was a man, a man dressed in ivory dark clothing, with brown, long hair tied in a ponytail.

"I won't allow you! These are my grounds, and I will not give them up!" the man hissed at the other figure, who also stopped.

This man was blond, and very tall. He seemed taller than the men Tino had seen in his life.

"Th's 's m' t'rr't'r'. (This is my territory)." the taller man stated.

The shorter man snarled and they lunged at each other. But the taller man seemed to be much stronger. He grabbed the shorter man mid-air. Threw him at a nearby tree. Tino watched as the taller man walked over slowly.

"'t 's m'n' (It is mine)." the taller man said, and somehow ran his hand straight into the shorter man. The shorter man gasped, as his body started to shake. Then it exploded into a cloud of dust.

Tino watched as the taller man seemingly relaxed. Then he suddenly turned to him.

The poor boy couldn't move. That's how scared he was when the man slowly approached him. Soon he was yanked into open arms. The man's chest was surprisingly warm.

"Wh' 'r' y'? (Who are you?)"

Tino hiccoughed. "I just wanted to see grandma." he said, tears in his eyes.

Suddenly the tall man patted him on the head.

"'s 'k'y, 'll t'k' y' h'm' (_It_ is okay, I'll take you home."

Tino sniffed.

"I live... I live by the mansion up the hill."

"Th' m'ns'n... V'n'm'n'n? (The mansion... Väinemöinen?)" The man asked. Tino nodded. The taller man softly picked him up, and carried him lightly.

Then the man started to walk. He walked for a few minutes until Tino could see the mansion. The tall man continued to approach the large building. He was silent, but Tino could hear he was breathing heavily.

"Are you okay, sir?" he asked, worried that the man was hurt.

"Y's, b't h'ngr' (Yes, but hungry.)"

"Hungry? Oh, we have food in our kitchen. I can ask a servant to..."

The man shook his head.

"N', y'r f'd w'n't f'll m'. I 'm s'rr'. Wh'r' 's y'r r'm? (No, your food won't fill me. I am sorry. Where is your room.)" the stranger asked.

"Up there" Tino said, and pointed at his window. The man grunted, and climbed up to the window. Bare handed. Tino didn't know how, but he didn't ask either.

The man put Tino down by the open window. Tino thanked him, as he let go.

"My name is Tino, what's yours?"

The man shook his head.

"'t's b'tt'r 'f y' d'n't kn'w. (It's better if you don't know.)" he said and kissed Tino's small hand. Tino felt something sting, and he yelped.

"I 'm s'rr'- I sh'll g'. 't w's n'c' t' m't y' Tino. (I am sorry. Hungry. I shall go. It was nice to meet you Tino.)"

And he was gone, just like that. Tino stared down at his still stinging hand, to notice a small puncture wound on it. But as he watched the wound closed, and disappeared without so much as a scar.

No one believed him the next day when he went to tell his parents. His mother told him he had just been dreaming, and that he should start to act his age, and not bother about such things. What a mother to a six year old could mean with that is a mystery. His father on the other hand didn't even listen to him, but told him to go back to his classroom, where his teacher would wait with an open book.

-000-

1782

That had been a little over ten years back. He was soon to turn 17 now. Things had not really improved much since then. His parents had stopped seeing each other altogether, even if they lived under the same roof. His learning period had continued, and didn't seem to get any easier. The expectations for him were high. And still, no one believed that he, Tino Väinämöinen had truly seen and been held by a vampire.

And no matter what, he had become the oddity of the entire nobility in Turku. The shame his father felt for him, the unpleasantries his mother told she suffered for his constant melancholy mantras. But, Tino would never forget what happened that day so many years ago, when vampires stumbled into his life.

-000-

_A new dawn breaks,_

_but you stay on your guard._

-000-

A/N: Here we go again... this first chapter is quite short, but I didn't want to a, put all the background on you in one go, b, drag on and on about things that would utterly be boring and c, write something like a prologue, even if this is actually chapter one.

The length of this story will be 26 chapter, 2 more chapters than Blood, Bites, Immortality. If you like the Nordic pairings I advice that you go and read it.

And please tell me what you think about the story... I do like reviews, even if I am not one of those who write solely for reviews, and this story will not stop if I do not receive them. But feedback and such is a good way for me to improve my writing, criticism is completely fine, but please don't be that guy/girl who shouts flames, and nothing else... I tend to ignore those, since flamers has been around so long now.


	2. You sturdy yourself, all it takes

Phew... there is a lot of internet research that needs to be done for 18th century Sweden/Finland. I kind of wish I had changed a few things from Bites, Blood, Immortality, to co-write this story with events like the French revolution or the Russian-Swedish war. But oh well... those events will just have to follow unmentioned.

Been terribly busy lately, as it is less than a month now until I'm going to China, so for the last few weeks or time I haven't had the energy to write a sentence on this. I still have my pre-written chapters, but they aren't that many... *sighs* I'll try to put some extra efforts up before I leave, but currently I have also started on the sequel for BBI, and it's still in the planning state. But, with what i have I should ast until mid september, then we'll see.

These first two chapters are quite short. They will get longer after this. This and the previous chapter was kind of one chapter split in two. Why, you may ask? Because I needed a prologue.

IMPORTANT, because I did get a review about this. (And I should probably clarify my intentions). The reason Berwald's speech is almost incomprehensible is because this takes place in Finland, and Berwald is from Sweden. Finnish and Swedish are _not_ very similar, so in order to understand Finnish, Berwald would have needed to learn it from scratch. He kinds of knows it, but he tends to stay away from his eastern borders unless something is up. Hence, every time you see his incomprehensible language it's because he speaks Finnish. Since Tino does know Swedish, I'll have them switch so that your poor eyes can take breaks quite often, as some future dialogues are quite long. Berwald's Finnish will improve as time goes on. But as for the first chapter/prologue, it hasn't. Secondly, I am sorry for the shortness, and for the speed, but I wanted to try something slightly different. I literally had no notes for the previous chapter to go by, and dragging it out would have been wrong.

**Blood, Love, Hunger**

**Chapter 2**

**You sturdy yourself, all it takes,**

**why is life so hard?**

February 1782

Winter didn't seem to end that year. The first snow had fallen already in October, and when the first snow fell early the cold came with it. No matter how much they tried to heat the large manor, there was always some way for the cold to seep in. Tino sat by his usual desk accompanied by his teacher, an aged man by the name of Torsti Vanhanen, who was in charge of his linguistic lessons. It was a skill his father had set the man to teach him.

You see, Tino's father was a nobleman, whose trades went to the far East. His business was established from caravans of traded goods that would travel on roads to the deeper parts of Russia. In his line of duty planning, economy and languages were among the most important skills, so Tino had been trained early to master not just Finnish and Swedish, but also Russian and Latin.

On the other hand his mother was deeply into their society, and the contact network you built and grew. Thus, her one and only son also had to be well versed in speech, customs and etiquette.

If he was honest with himself, Tino prefered his fathers lessons above the lessons his mother scheduled. His language lessons would often carry on to conversations about other nations and new cultures. His etiquette lessons would on the contrary discuss which silver fork you should eat with when a higher noble would witness. Honestly, Tino had never liked the society he was born in, and would often try his best to stay outside of it. He had other ambitions, he wanted to see the world. He wanted to explore and he wanted to make something new for himself.

After all, he considered himself an outsider. He was more interested in exploring than the right ways to kiss a lady's hand. He had never been in love before, and judging of the way the ladies he met would often try to crush their bosoms at him he considered the likelihood of marriage a slim margin. At least, if he could chose for himself.

"Tino Väinämöinen, are you even listening?"

Tino blinked in stupor, and a small blush formed on his cheeks from embarrassment when he realised that his teacher Vanhanen was staring at him, just a foot away from his face.

"Sorry Sir, I appologise." Tino murmured. "I got lost in my own thoughts."

"It's more like that you ignored my last few sentences. Close your books, I want you to work on your comprehension of Latin, and you can start by translating the first parts of the Aeneid."

His teacher Vanhanen then proceeded by to dump a large manuscript on his desk. Tino sighed and he closed his books, picked up his quill and took a new sheet of paper. Vanhanen leaned over to see him work, and nodded approvingly. Tino was used to Latin, both spoken and written, and rarely made mistakes.

The sun had gone down when Tino was finished. At this time of the year the sun only stayed for a few hours a day, and would be gone most of the day. Tino stretched his back as his teacher put sand on the paper and allowed Tino to leave. Something he was more than eager to do.

Tino smiled, as he hurried down the hall in a quickened pace to return to his room to rest before dinner, when the Head Butler of the Väinämöinen household, Mr Virtanen, suddenly bowed before him, hindering his steps.

"Sir Väinämöinen, I am pleased to see you. But, I must urge that you get changed quickly. I hope you have not forgotten that your mother is holding her seasonal feast tonight."

Tino cursed silently in his mind. He had completely forgotten about that, and worse he had been forced to attend. He hated these things. It made him feel more strange than people usually saw him.

"Thank you Mr Virtanen, please send someone to help me prepare."

"I shall see to that." Mr Virtanen bowed again and Tino hurried to his room. It was best to get dressed urgently.

-000-

Tino felt like a fool as he stood by the entrance greeting the guests upon arrival. His mother was there as well, and as always she looked stunning. Her usually brown hair was coloured grey (as the fashion was) by a bleak powder, and she wore a stunning golden dress in fine silk. Tino felt like he looked so off. His hair had also been powdered, but not as much since he was naturally blond. He wore a blue coat, with golden buttons and white pants that had been cleaned to the point Tino was sure the material would soon fall apart. Nobility from far and wide had gathered at their home, which was a considerably large one, as the Väinämöinen were rumoured to be able to grind gold from nothing. This of course was not true, seeing how Tino had been allowed to look through the accountants of his father's business, and his trades simply sold well. It was as simple as that.

But it wasn't just the stupid clothing that made this whole experience unbearable at times.

"Lady Väinämöinen, how good to see you!"

"You look dazzling as always, you husband is quite the fortunate man."

"You have to be the most beautiful woman in all of Finland and Karelia."

Tino merely rolled his eyes. People took full notice of his mother, but pretended as if Tino was a piece of boring furniture. The only good thing from standing like this was that he didn't have to do anything, and he could silently point out the stupidity of the abnormal high hairstyles that some of the ladies wore. The bigger the better was the fashion, but the bigger the hair became the more Tino considered them to be imitations of a large mammal.

He stiffled a yawn, when he was certain he saw someone watching him from the bushes. But when he looked there was no-one there. He shrugged as his mother turned her steps towards the lavishly decorated Great Hall and Tino had no choice but to follow her.

The Great Hall of the Väinämöinen household was the largest room. The room was technically the assemble hall for all of their feasts and all of the balls, when there had been those. Currently, the room itself was packed with a great number of higher and lower nobility. The only thing missing, Tino mused, was the King. However, their King Gustav III of Sweden was most likely too busy with the high nobility in Stockholm. Tino had yet to ever meet the man, but his father met him and he called him an old-fashioned puppet.

But he would never say those words loud.

Still, this didn't stop most of the Eastern Swedish nobility and far travellers to visit as many came hoping to strike a good deal with his father or see the famous beauty, Aino Väinämöinen, his mother.

His mother looked sternly at him as he was close to yawning from boredom.

"Do not act like this. I am merely fixing your future. Your father thinks he can grind money from the Russians and the Western Swedes, but I am sure this will not be possible forever. No, when trades falter society still stands and we need to secure you a future. So, I want you to go out there and talk to some of the high class ladies."

"Do not corrupt our son, Aino." his father suddenly said, and arrived from having spoken to some of his merchant friends. "Who says nobility will last forever? If you haven't heard it, but some of the nobles south are worried. The people have started to raise their voices. I wouldn't trust our noble blood too much."

"Keep your words to yourself." his mother spat. "You have no rights, you who blend noble blood with that of peasants."

His father frowned.

"Do not call them peasants. Some make more money than some of those damsels would ever dream of. Tino, take no heed of your mother's words."

Tino nodded, feeling quite relieved to hear this, and excused himself while his mother started yet another verbal abuse at his father. They had done this for as long as he could remember and Tino hated it. His mother and father had not been the best of friends. Ever since he was little they had fought, leaving Tino to be raised by his grandmother and later by many governesses.

Tino dodged away from some of the most annoying ladies of the room, and was relieved to soon find himself in the hallway. He noticed some of the rented maids (the Väinämöinen household only had 4 maids, so they had to hire extra for large festivities like this). The maids were spying into the room, giggling at the dresses and the number of young men. Tino didn't pay them much attention, and simply dodged out to the open night.

He knew his mother would be furious, and he knew he would hate himself for this later. But he desperately needed a break. A little fresh air couldn't hurt, if he returned in a minute. On his way he detoured slightly, to pick up one of his favourite objects in the building.

Moments later he stepped out. The air was cool, winter was still strong and it would take a while before spring would come. There hadn't been any snow as of the last few weeks, but it didn't make many differences. The cold was still there. He took a deep breath, drew the cold air into his lungs and took out the object he had brought.

It was an instrument. A kantele. It was a pretty large instrument, and he had to sit down on the stone wall to properly hold it. His grandmother had shown him how to play it, and two of his governesses had properly taught him how to play. He loved the music. It was one of those rare things both his parents could appreciate.

He smiled, and allowed the soft tunes to carry his mind away from the troubles that constantly bothered him. Playing, he didn't have to think about his mother trying to nudge him to become a social figure. He didn't have to worry about his parents and their constant fights. He didn't have to think about how people of his own status looked down at him, despite his titles, because he was just so odd.

He knew he would eventually have to return, but he needed one more minute of peace.

Yes, just a minute...

"Psst... Tino!"

He near jumped as a familiar face appeared from one of the bushes.

"Ilmari?"

A fair haired man, a little older than himself, appeared from the bushes. He was dressed in similar clothing to the rest of the nobles, with some differences. For one thing, the clothing he wore was just a disguise.

Tino laid down his kantele and walked over to the bushes. Ilmari and he had known each other for many years. They met by pure accidents years ago down by the market. Tino and his third governess had been down to find him a present, when someone had stolen the gold coin he had gotten to buy for. It still had not taken long before someone caught the thief, and the coin was retrieved. However, Ilmari was very poor and Tino felt very sorry for him, so he gave the coin to him. They had been close friends ever since.

"Ilmari, what are you doing here? If our Head Gardener catches you again..." Tino said, worried about his friend's antics. Ilmari was not allowed near the mansion, and last time the Head Gardener had personally gone after the intruder with the hedge trimmers raised.

"He won't. He was snoozing at the back of his cabin. No, I came to get you." Ilmari said with a smirk.

Tino shook his head.

"I'd love to come, but that's difficult to do. Mother threw a huge party and..."

"I know, now half of Finland's nobles are here. The entire town talk about it. But this is a crisis."

Tino blinked.

"What, is something wrong?" he asked, worried.

"Crisis of the century. I need your help." Ilmari said, and he looked pleadingly at his friend.

"I'd love to help, but... aah!"

Tino gave a sound of surprise as Ilmari, who was quite strong, suddenly started to drag him away.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Tino said, in shocked surprise.

"Kidnapping you. I figured it would be the only way I could get you to come."

Tino looked back towards the mansion, feeling very uncertain about this.

"B-But..."

"No buts... you're coming. I said I am kidnapping you. So, it won't be your fault that you won't go back." Ilmari said with a broad smirk.

Tino sighed, and yelped as Ilmari dragged him away. Tino stared down at his flashy clothing... how this was going to play out, who knew?

-000-

_You sturdy yourself, all it takes,_

_why is life so hard?_

-000-

A/N: For each historical annotation that I've looked into, I thought I could end the chapter with a note. I did some research on details regarding the 18th century Sweden. Finland was at this point of history a large region of Sweden, and thus some of the elements that changed in Sweden changed in Finland as well. There are differences, but the problem is that whenever I search for information on Finland, I get rerouted to Sweden, and thus I've been forced to conclude my research on Swedish customs. To anyone in Finland, if you feel like details are wrong, please tell me!

**Trivia:** (A LOT of it)

**Western and Eastern Sweden**: Sweden claimed Finland as its Eastern territory quite early within the middle ages. For several hundred years Finland was therefore considered to be Eastern Sweden, seeing as the Baltic sea divided the large nation. The Western Sweden was parts of modern Sweden (save for a few provinces that belonged to either Norway or Denmark). 1808 Sweden lost its Eastern territory to Russia, and the new nation became known as the Grand Duchy of Finland.

**Daylight hours:** Finland is, together with Sweden, Norway and several other nations that borders close to the North Pole (and vice versa the nations south that borders closer to the South pole) used to really strange hours of sun. At winter we suffer the consequences of our location as we get very few hours of sun, and in some areas closest to the poles, no sun at all. In comparison, our summers have the longest days of sunlight at the furthest northern locations the sun doesn't go down. This, which makes very long and dark winters and very long days during summer shows well into our culture, as many loves the sun, and hates the monotone dark. Since this story takes place in Finland, I wanted to incorporate this as well.

**Children: **I know most of you are used to the aspect of parents loving the children, but children have for a long time been small versions of adults. Tino has others who brought him up, and he grew up without the care of parents. He finally got to see them, but much alike noble children he was born into roles. Sadly for him, his parents have divided roles for him.

**Writing:** Writing in the 18th century is quite interesting, because the quill was still in use, and since ink didn't dry quickly you used to spread sand to dry it. In this chapter Tino is writing with paper and ink, which I would imagine to be quite expensive, thus I wanted to show two things. First of all how wealthy the Väinömöinens are, and secondly the fact that he has to learn, or he might get scolded since ink cannot be removed.

**Aino:** In the Finnish national epic kalevala, it explains of the seer Väinämöinen and his tale. In this tale he takes a wife, Aino, who didn't want to marry him and drowned herself. Väinämöinen then goes down to the kingdom of death, and tries to get her back. I liked this kind of background for Tino's mother, who was forced into the marriage.

**Fashion:** Fashion for this period is interesting. Fashion was highly inspired from France, and the mighty royalty and nobility that they had (remember this was before the French Revolution). The highest fashion for example expected you to be powdered pale, and wear very tall wigs. This was however a rare occurrence, as Sweden hit one of its worst periods economically, with large debts to pay for the Ottoman empire (as the Swedish king borrowed money from the empire to run his wars). But the fashion was still powdered wigs. Tino, in this chapter, also wears a long coat (in silk) and a vest beneath. I tried to stay within the fashion, as the Väinämöinen have money, but should not flaunt too much about it.

**Gustav III of Sweden:** Gustav III ruled Sweden between 1772-1792. Before him Sweden was close to being among the earliest people-in-power nations, but his rule changed that as he took back the power from the people from himself. While he had good ideas and made some good changes. He is mostly remembered for being a king who wanted Sweden back as a supernation: His war-techniques were poor for the time. By the end he was so unpopular among the noble that a group of them managed to shoot him at a masquerade ball. His actions spurred the Russian dislike on Sweden once more, which lead to Sweden losing Finland in 1808.

**Kantele:** This is an old Finnish music string-instrument. The kantele is mentioned in the Finnish poem kalevala, where one was made for Väinömöinen, the main character of the story. Since I wanted to make Tino's character slightly feminime without making him a woman, I thought music was a good way, because in many eras the noble woman was expected to be able to play music rather than interest herself in politics. Also, this is an era in which it's okay to be romantic and emotional as a man.

**Ilmari: **This is another name I stole from Kalevala. Ilmari in the original poem was known as Ilmarinen, and he created Sampo, the legendary artefact that had the ability to create gold, salt and flour. I took some great inspiration from this poem when I decided to set the story in Finland, so you will most likely see larger and smaller elements of the poem in the story.

Originally Ilmari was meant to be the son of a blacksmith, but this changed once the story was in it's first stage of planning.


	3. Little by little, the sand trickles down

Been listening to Finnish traditional music to get in the mood for the chapter. The length of this chapter is longer. I hope you guys don't mind, but I was struggling with the first two chapters and I didn't want to bring things that would bore you or seem unnecessary.

**Blood, Love, Hunger**

**Chapter 3**

**Little by little, the sand trickles down,**

**an hour you have to spare.**

Now why did Ilmari want to bring him here?

It had taken them at least an hour to get here. On their way, Ilmari had made a stop by the old woman by the church who sold decorative fabric flowers that she sow for a small income. It was very late, but the old woman was still there, wrapped in layers of shawls and very pleased to sell one more flower before she would retreat to her little room. The flower Ilmari bought was a splendid lily in pink.

As soon as his purchase was made, with the little money that he had, Ilmari had set off to one of the more crowded streets. In an alleyway close to it, was a service that both nobles and general citizens would come to visit, in the darkest hours of the night. Tino was not among these people and he paled when he realised where they were going.

"A brothel? Ilmari... I'm not sure..."

"It's fine, look, we're not here for the sex... well, unless you want it. So, come on."

Ilmari practically dragged him inside. Tino groaned in near shame. He hoped that no one would recognise who he was, which was not easy in the way he was dressed. Unmistakably people would realise he was a nobleman. He had never set his foot inside a brothel before, after all the service they offered. Ilmari had obviously stolen clothes from the theatre that he worked in again. His clothes were lavish and styled, but to Tino it was obvious they were staged. The quality was wrong, and the gold was just that, an illusion. Tino knew his own shirt and jacket were ten times worth what Ilmari wore.

Ilmari may think this could be used as a disguise to hide his poverty, but in reality it became more obvious.

A strong smell of scents hit his nose as they stepped inside the door. They were standing in a narrow corridor, with four more closed doors. Three of the doors could be found to their right. The remaining door was at the near end of the hallway. That door opened, and an even stronger wave of scents hit them. To their left was a winding staircase, which meant there were a few more rooms.

A bony woman stepped forward. She was extremely thin, and Tino wondered if she might be starving. But then he noted that the bangles she wore were real silver.

"Ah..." she said, her thin lips carved into a fake smile. "...my lord, what can I do for you?"

Ilmari bowed. The woman looked disapprovingly at him.

"My fair lady. I have come here with my companion from a faraway county to ask for the services of one of your fair ladies..."

The woman's smile faltered suddenly.

"I was not addressing you, you peasant boy. Didn't I tell you to stop coming here."

Ilmari tried a fake laughter.

"You must be mistaken, I..."

"I said, get out. Only paying costumers are allowed here."

Tino got the feeling that something had happened between these two. So, timidly, he stepped forward.

"Excuse me Mrs?"

"Takala, and it's Miss Takala." Miss Takala answered. She seemed less tense with him.

"Yes, may I ask what Ilmari has done?"

Miss Takala sighed.

"Slept with one of my girls." she said with a sigh. "This little thief started coming here a week ago, and started to spend nights with one of my younger girls upstairs. I had her as a higher profit, since she is quite young, but this man started coming to her at night, without paying, and has tired her out every night."

Tino nodded, and looked sadly at his friend, who simply raised his hands in defense.

"Hey... all is fair in love and war." he said.

"She is not your lover!" Miss Takala barked out.

Tino near jumped by her sudden change of tone.

"Er... Miss Takala... how much does he own you."

"Under normal circumstances 4 riksdaler, but with the damage done, the double."

Tino put his hand in his pocket. The good thing about his father's business was that it earned them well. He counted out the eight coins. It was most likely more than the circumstances called for, this could buy you more than one good ox, but he didn't want Ilmari to get hurt.

Miss Takala smiled broadly and nabbed the coins before Tino could change his mind.

"Glad to be doing business with you. You can now go visit her for the next week as well. This has it covered. But, if you by any means hurt or harm her, I will see that you are hanged." she warned Ilmari as a last resort and returned to her room.

Both of them heaved a sigh of relief. Then Ilmari started to laugh again.

Tino was still pale from the encounter with the skeleton-woman (she gave him the creeps), but he got annoyed by his friend's reaction.

"What's so funny?" he asked, as Ilmari started to calm down.

"Tino, you're a lifesaver!" Ilmari near shouted in happiness.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you another time, now come. I want you to meet her." Ilmari then proceeded to drag him up the stairs. Tino stumbled, but had no other option than to follow him.

The second floor was very similar to the first floor. This too had a narrow corridor, and several closed doors. Ilmari hurried to the second last and knocked. A gentle voice could be heard from inside.

"Enter."

Ilmari dragged Tino with him. Tino was shocked at the interior of the room. It was very different. The heavy scents were even more potent, and the window was covered with a silk red curtain. The walls were draped with curtains of soft red materials. There was a bed near the window with large cushions, where a young woman lay. Her clothes barely covering any skin for the imagination.

Tino blushed at her shameless display. Ilmari didn't even take note. He dashed forward and ravished the girl, who answered in equal frenzy. Tino tried his best to pretend to be a wall ornament.

"This is Tino." Ilmari said between kisses. "Tino, meet Ada, the love of my life. Ada, my love, Tino had paid for me. We can spend the week."

Tino knew his face was beet red at this moment, but Ada took no note and simple whispered her thanks. Ilmari proceeded to continue to devour her. It became obvious this was what he had wanted, but Tino wished he could have warned him. He felt disgusted and used with himself. Often Ilmari was a good friend, but he was poor and very well aware of it. It hadn't been the first time he had used Tino to gain something his status would normally keep him from. But, it still hurt. Tino trusted Ilmari, and it hurt when his trust was met this way.

He figured Ilmari wouldn't be upset if he left, and frankly he was sure he wouldn't notice. Tino sneaked out from the room, face still red and mood dropping. He knew Ilmari had used him to gain something, and it hurt. But at the same time, he couldn't blame him for it. Secretly, Tino wished that one day he too could find someone to love.

He felt like a hopeless romantic as he walked down. Miss Takala had stepped outside the door.

"Oh, you're not joining?" she asked. "You paid for it."

Tino shook his head.

"Suit yourself." she said and shrugged. Tino looked up to her, she was slightly taller than he was.

"What will happen to them?" he asked.

"Don't worry, I may take late payment seriously, but even I can tell when young people fall in love. If Ada wants to leave the business she can. She came here when her mother had nothing else to give her."

"She died?"

"No, famine. The farmers have it harsh, the harvests have been bad. People are hungry. No, there was nothing for her on that farm, so she came here."

Tino nodded.

"Careful. You're an unusually gentle man for a noble. I hope you can do well, but these alleys can be dangerous at night." Miss Takala warned him.

"I know, but I don't belong here."

Miss Takala sighed.

"No, you don't" she murmured.

-000-

It was late, but not late enough that the feast at the Väinämöinen mansion would be over. Tino was certain the servants had been sent to look for him, but they would never find him here. And to be honest with himself, he didn't feel like going back just yet. He decided to go for a walk, and look at the town at night.

And it was certainly a sight.

Despite the late hours, there was still life found on the streets. Lantern carriers walked around to check that none of the lanterns hadn't burnt out, and on occasion Tino met someone either on his or her way home, or walking towards a dodgy direction. He also saw the fireman on his usual patrol, looking quite bitter. Tino avoided him. But this wasn't everything.

He accidentally took a wrong turn, and found himself on a small street he had never walked on. It wasn't far from the usual fancier streets with shops and services, but the atmosphere changed immediately. It was a small alley, with many doors. Each door was locked, and on occasion he saw the faintness of a light, probably candle as some of the lights flickered.

Tino near held his breath. An old woman, with white dry hair, clad in brown gunny fabric, sewn into a large dress. Tino had a feeling she had to wear other layers for the cold as well, but still... that material had to be awful to walk in.

"Good fortunes for a copper?" she asked, and held her hands out hopefully. Tino felt bad for her. Her hands and arms were very skinny, and he doubted she had much to eat. He shoved his hand into his pocket, and dug out yet another silver coin.

Her eyes went wide, but she took out a small cross. At first he thought it was silver, and wondered why a woman who owned silver would need money from him? But the second later he realised it was just normal metal, probably iron, painted to look silver.

"Take this, My Lord, and may God bless your generosity and kindness." the woman said, struck in awe as she held the coin close to her heart. Tino smiled, as the cross changed hands.

"It's nothing." he murmured. The woman bowed.

Tino felt good as his steps brought him further into the poorer area of Turku. He felt refreshed, for the first time in ages he had met someone who had not regarded him as a complete stranger, but as a kind young man who could help.

He almost felt like one of those classic heroes, like Robin Hood that one of his British nannies had told him about, a man who helped the poor.

He wondered briefly if his father knew, and maybe he should ask. On his walk he crossed four more beggars. The next beggar was a man, who walked wobbling with his stick. He asked for food, and Tino gave him yet another coin. The beggar after that was a younger woman, who barely wore anything and slept outside a door. She was shivering, and begging for warmth, so Tino removed his coat and let her wear it. It was cold, but Tino decided he could live with being a little cold this evening.

Finally he met two small children. The children were both girls, and they were hiding in a temporary home built from whatever they could find. Tino could not see what they looked like, first because it was dark. Secondly, because they hid as soon as he walked close.

"Alli, hide!"

Tino could hear them move. He walked closer.

"Brita, is he coming here?"

"I think so, quiet!"

Tino spoke up. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." he said, and hunched down.

A small, dirty but curious face poked up.

"Hi." Tino said and smiled.

The small girl withdrew, but Tino could still hear them.

"It's a man. He doesn't seem bad."

"Are you sure?"

"I think so."

The two girls walked out from their hiding and closer, where a window candle became the only faint source of light. They both wore thin dresses and Tino felt bad for them.

"Hello." Tino said, and smiled at both of them. "What's your names?"

One of the girls, the tallest of them, shuddered but piped up:

"I'm Brita. This is Alli, my sister. You're not going to hurt us, are you? You're not one of those bad men, right?"

Tino shook his head.

"I will not hurt you. Tell me, why are you both out here this late, and in this cold?"

The small girl, Alli, sniffed. Tino was shocked. The young girl was crying. Brita hugged her close.

"Mommy told us to run when the smoke came to our house. She told us to wait, while she went to grab our brother. He's sick. But, she never came for us." Alli said.

"Where do you live?" he asked.

Brita pointed towards the direction he had walked towards. To his horror he saw, despite the dim lighting, that there were scorch marks on the houses closest and he didn't need to walk further down to realise what must have happened. Like most towns throughout Europe there were large quantities of wood built areas, and if a fire spread...

Tino felt horrible. Brita looked at him, knowingly, but then her eyes shifted to Alli, who seemed oblivious to what was truly going on.

"Have you seen our mommy or our brother?" Alli asked.

Tino sadly had to shake his head.

"Brita, wasn't it? Don't you have anyone you can stay with. It's very cold, aren't you cold?"

"Papa could take us in, but Papa works in the woods." she said.

"And papa told us not to go out in the woods without mommy." Alli said.

Tino thought for a moment.

"But, I am sure your papa must be worried. You know what, if you walk with me to the gate I can hire someone to take you to him. Tell me, where does he work?"

"The woodcutters, but papa cannot afford a horse." Brita said, sadly.

"Maybe not your papa." Tino said. "But, I still have some money with me. I can purchase a safe travel for you to your papa, if you want. It's better than this cold, isn't it?"

Brita looked quite insecure, probably waging whether she trusted him or not. Alli on the other hand sniffed and walked closer. For a moment Brita moved, to try to stop her sister from going to him, but Tino merely hugged her back.

Alli cried, and Tino didn't find it strange at all to allow the small girl a shoulder to cry on. Tino looked over at Brita, who was close to crying herself.

Being alone is not easy.

Tino stood up and carried Alli with his right arm. She was very small, couldn't be older than maybe four years old or so. He guessed Brita was slightly older. Brita took his other hand and together they walked back away from the poorer area and into the lit richer area.

Both Brita and Alli stayed silent as they neared the gates. The gates were closed, but since it was a peaceful time Tino knew they could open for the right casuses. His Uncle did this whenever he needed someone to send quick messages.

Tino approached one carriage owner, who stood by his cart looking awfully bored. He smiled, and let Alli down as he walked over to bargain with the man.

"Good evening." the man said.

"Good evening. I have a proposition for you. I need you to take two small girls to the lumberjacks."

"At this hour?" the man said, in surprise. "Well, I could but it will be costly."

"I can pay." Tino said, and smiled. He took out three silver coins. "Should this be enough?"

"With robbers in the forest, at least five and no less."

"Four, and I'll pay for the gates." Tino said.

"Deal." the man said, and climbed up to his seat. The horses, who had been snoozing, both gave our frustrated sounds.

Tino motioned for the girls to come. The man eyed them with a curious expression, but didn't comment their looks.

"Will he take us to papa?" Brita asked, as Tino helped her into the carriage.

"He will. Now, I need to talk to the gateguards. But I'll wave you of."

Brita nodded, and sat down on one of the benches. Tino quickly hurried to talk with one of the guards.

"Evening Alvar!"

An uniformed guard looked over from where he had been sitting on a barrel.

"Oh, Evening Tino? Sneaking out again?"

"Not really, still, I would be pleased if you could open the gates for a carriage to through." Tino explained.

"A carriage? At this hour? Where are you heading?"

"Not me, I am sending a couple of children to their father."

"Children... I get the feeling it is better for me not to know. Very well, I'll open the gates for them. The usual payment?"

"Indeed." Tino said and paid. He was almost out of money by now.

"Glad to be of service." Alvar said and smiled.

In minutes the thick doors opened and Tino waved the girls of as he promised. Brita stuck her head out from the carriage and yelled her thanks. Tino smiled back, he felt great.

With a job well done he figured he should return home. It was cold after all, and he had no coat. And the great party ought to be over by now.

-000-

Tino smiled as he walked the more familiar streets back towards the Väinämöinen mansion. He felt good for helping others and he figured the day he'd be a Lord he'd spend a good deal of his fortunes to help the people of Turku. He was so enthralled by his good deeds that he didn't notice the gang of men that approached him.

"You!" a man suddenly said, and pointed at him.

Tino blinked, and shivered but not from the cold. The men that he faced were all cloaked and several of them carried weapons.

"You're that rich guy? The one who gave old Crooked-Foot that money? Well, we need money too. Give it to us!"

Tino tried to stop the trembling, but he was scared for his life. The men were armed, he wasn't. He might have felt better if he too carried a sword, but he somehow doubted it.

He simply wasn't a fighter.

"Give us the money!" the man ordered again.

Tino dug into his pockets, and picked our the last silver and a few copper.

The man approached, stared at the money and his expression darkened.

"All of it!" he said. His breath smelled horribly from large quantities of alcohol and rot.

"It's my last." Tino explained. Another man grabbed him from behind, and put a knife to his throat.

"What? Are you telling us you spent all that gold on beggars and kids, and none for us?"

Tino whimpered. "P-Please... d-don't kill me." he said, begging for his life.

The first man stared at him, then eyed Tino properly. There were a few lanterns by the streets, so he got a decent view.

"Well, maybe he can pay us in other ways. I've always wondered if Nobles squirm when you penetrate them." the first man said, and started to tug on Tino's trousers. Tino's eyes widened and he tried to struggle, but the second man held on tightly and the rest didn't help. They laughed, as the leader tried to tear through Tino's clothes.

Tino's eyes clouded by tears. He was frightened, he knew what was happening. But his mind simply couldn't comprehend.

Then suddenly both men were gone. There was a snarl and a taller and more built man had arrived from out of nowhere. The men fled, as the tall man fought them of. Tino gasped, from the ground where he had dropped. He was certain he ought to run, but his legs wouldn't obey him.

"'_Ar' ya unhurt_?" the tall man asked, once the group had completely vanished.

"I-I think so." Tino stammered and stretched his hand for help. The taller man grabbed on to his outstretched hand, and helped him up.

"_'I'm glad._" the tall man said. He had a very heavy accent, and he didn't sound as if he was from around. He spoke Swedish, but it was difficult to understand. It sounded very old fashioned.

"Th-thank you." stammered Tino and blushed.

The man eyed him, and still held to his hand. Tino's early feelings of safety started to turn to panic again. Why was the man staring at him like that?

"_Ya 're cute._" the man said.

Tino blushed even more, if that was even possible. Seemingly, it was.

Tino suddenly yelped as the man bent down slightly and kissed him. Firm thin lips landed on his own. At first Tino wanted to struggle, but he felt he couldn't. And he relaxed into the kiss.

-000-

_Little by little, the sand trickles down,_

_an hour you have to spare._

-000-

A/N: Now that I reread this chapter over and over, I'm not sure what I think about it. It's not bad, and it will pay parts to the story, but it's just... odd... I guess when you try to make an oddball of the 18th century, this is what happens. After all, a, Tino is too trusting and b, he's to oblivious... which is kind of the opposite of what I like to write. But all in all, as a writer sometimes you just got to give in to your characters... I guess.

Next update will be in a while, because I finally finished chapter one of the Sequel to BBI (after such a long time). Hope you still found something to enjoy in this chapter, and well... please tell me what you think. I can snip in that Tino, as a character, will change _a lot_ throughout this story, which is why I focus so much on him. This is his tale.

**Trivia:**

**Firemen and fires: **Most European cities were at this point built by wood, as it was cheaper, but because of this fires were common. As this was the case, an official person was by the late 18th century hired to keep an eye on this. I am not sure how well his skills worked, as cities still burnt, but he could be heard shouting on occasion that "all was well."

**Riksdaler: **is a Swedish currency from late mid 18th century. According to my googling, 3 riksdaler was worth an ox. There are other names for more valuable currency and less valuable currency. One riksdaler was technically a coin in silver. Much like Harry Potter and the currency there, gold was worth more, albeit fewer could own these, and copper was the least worth coin. There were, from what I can gather from this time period, two silver coins, riksdaler which were the more valuable ones, and daler, which I can figure were less valuable (for silver). It's daler that Tino gives the beggars, btw. But it didn't feel very important to the story. Silver is still silver.

**Swedish and** **Finnish**: I feel like I need to talk about these two once more. Sweden claimed Finland during the Medieval times, and stayed united with Finland for several centuries. During the Swedish reign over Finland Swedish was the formal language among nobility and those of higher education. Finnish was still a huge part, but mainly spoken among the poorer and more common folk. The two languages are very different, as Swedish originated as a Germanic language such as German while Finnish is the development of it's own branch. It's very different from Swedish, which means that as a Swede, Finnish is impossible to understand (some Finns may understand Swedish since the language is still taught at school).


	4. You hurry through this silent town

Just to clarify: At this point in history Finland was still a large region of Sweden, and I realised this mistake that I keep writing Finland. It should historically just be Eastern Sweden, but since I know most of you have never read Swedish history, I'll let that be. But I still want you all to keep that in mind.

Secondly, I know this update happened much sooner than I expected it to be, but I'm delaying my next with a week since I want to post the sequel for BBI instead. Yes, I am cross-writing in a most hysterical way, and I'll try to keep my updates in such a way that you will never need to ask too many questions about either storylines. Thankfully, I have gotten done with at least 2/3 of the outline for the sequel (Blood, Distance, Devotion).

Until next time then!

~Shitza

**Blood, Love, Hunger**

**Chapter 4**

**You hurry through this silent town,**

**like a fox chasing a hare.**

_Tino suddenly yelped as the man bent down slightly and kissed him. Firm thin lips landed on his own. At first Tino wanted to struggle, but he felt he couldn't. And he relaxed into the kiss._

Seconds passed and he soon forgot that he was kissing a stranger. Despite the fact that something within him screamed that this was all wrong, his body didn't seem to want to acknowledge it.

Because the man could kiss.

It started slowly. At first his lips simply touched his, teasingly as if to tempt him into the dark oblivion. Then slowly more pressure was applied, and Tino felt his tongue poke him, begging for entrance. Tino opened his mouth slightly, and the stranger took this as his invitation to further dwelve into those sinful feelings that now stirred within the two of them. Tino knew it was wrong, but he didn't want it to end. He would gladly have stayed like this for the rest of the night.

The young Finn was powerless but to abide by this stranger's commands.

The taller man held him close, his heat was most welcoming as Tino didn't wear his coat and the Finn clung on to the heat, pulling himself closer to the kiss. He felt the taller man explore the insides of his mouth, and mimic movements that the young man had only dreamt about with shadowed figures.

Maybe he had been one of them.

The kiss gradually became more heated, as did other regions of their bodies. Tino could feel the man's growing arousal, as his own did. He wanted more, he was almost desperate for the heat. He was cold, so cold and only this man could warm him.

The man backed slightly, and Tino got a good look of his rescuer. The man towered above him by half a head at least. Tino stared back into the man's greenish blue eyes. The man had a gaze that was frightening, and it made Tino's knees weak. But his gaze was still gentle, to the verge of caring. He was blond, much like himself.

The stranger leaned down again for yet another kiss. This time Tino didn't even think about it, but allowed himself to be touched. The stranger's hands moved over his shoulders, down his back and up again to hold him firm into the kiss. Tino equally felt his kisser. His hands lay on the stranger's chest, and he could feel the strong muscles beneath.

The kisses travelled further down. Tino gasped as the stranger started to kiss the side of his mouth, down his jaw and to his neck. The young Finn gasped as the stranger kisses on his pulse. The stranger man sucked on it, in a way that made Tino wonder what else he was capable of. What else could this man do to make him feel like he had reached heaven? His heart beat rapidly. His breathing quickened.

Then suddenly it all stopped.

Tino's knees hit the ground as the man suddenly let go of him. The taller man steadily walked back, eyes widened as if something had shocked him. Then before Tino could fathom what was happening, the strange tall man was gone.

And there wasn't a trace left of him.

Tino's hand slowly travelled up to touch his now kiss-bruised lips. His body felt hot, his flesh wanted to continue what had happened. But his mind gradually cleared and after a minute his first coherent thought hit him.

_What had just happened? Why did I willingly kiss a stranger?_

-000-

The next day the sun shone brightly. It awoke him, and Tino groaned as one of the butlers entered with a change of clothes.

"Good morning Sir, I urge that you must change. Mr Vanhanen is waiting for you in the classroom."

Tino groaned. He was usually a morning person, but for some reason he felt so sleepy.

"Please, Sir. You mustn't keep your teacher waiting. Later, your mother has requested for you to visit her."

"Mother has?"

"Yes, regarding yesterday. She doesn't seem too happy with your manners."

Tino paled.

"Wha-what happened yesterday?"

His butler bowed.

"I wish I could answer that myself, but we're all curious. It is not often we have found our Sirs on the front steps after he's disappeared for hours. Half dressed and dirty as a peasant as well."

Tino shook his head, as his head as the memories of the night resurfaced and he remembered why he was so tired. He remembered Ilmari's attempts to kidnap him, for the purpose of bailing himself out. Tino didn't find he was angry though, after all Ilmari had done it for love, that had to count for something. Then it had been the beggars, and the little girls. That did make him feel much better for his excuses. He had made some people's lives much better. And then it had been...

Tino fought a blush, and utterly failed.

"Is anything the matter, sir?" his butler asked.

Tino shook his head.

"No, nothing." he answered and started to get dressed. His butler helped with holding the many layers for him, and to fix smaller details, but Tino preferred to dress himself.

The last touches were a pair of golden cuff-links and a quick brush on his shoulders. His butler had to help him put on the cuffs, which was somehow hard to do one-handed. Tino also put the cross he had received from the old woman in his pocket.

"There, all done. Now, you must be of sir. Your teacher awaits you."

"What about breakfast?"

"I am afraid your mother has instructed the kitchen to not serve you this morning. She is not very happy about your performance yesterday, and she wants you to see this as punishment."

Tino sighed. He hated being hungry "Thank you, Mr Mäkeläinen."

The man nodded and bowed quickly as Tino stepped into the hall and steered towards the classroom. He passed his mother's chamber, where the door was closed meaning his mother was still resting.

Tino wished he could return to bed as well, but life is rarely fair.

Tino soon found himself in the familiar room that was now his classroom. It once had been his playroom, but as he had grown older the toys had been removed and today there were mainly books, a desk and a few mirrors for when he was forced to attend dance lessons.

"Ah, good to see you awake." Mr Vanhanen said with a smile. Tino yawned when he entered.

"Good morning, sir." Tino said, in a lower voice than normal.

"Well, I can see you are tired and to be honest I am a bit under the weather myself."

"Oh, I am sorry." Tino apologised, figuring Mr Vanhanen had been among those forced outside to look for him.

"Oh, it has nothing to do with your little adventures, from what I hear you were gone for some time. No, I had the evening off and visited a sister of mine But it's cold, and some of the cold dug through my coat. But don't worry, the doctor gave me some medicine so I'll be fine soon. Still, I get the feeling we could take it easy. Books away."

Tino nodded and smiled. He put his large book of Russian poetry away and straightened in his seat.

The morning didn't feel like a lesson at all. Mr Vanhanen did look very tired, so they spent the hours discussing trade politics and trade prices at the docks. Tino thoroughly enjoyed himself. The chat was light-hearted and Mr Vanhanen didn't quiz him or anything of the sort.

Their light chat was interrupted at noon with the breakfast bell sounding. Mr Vanhanen dismissed the class, and asked for Tino to continue his studies on his own, by reading the last years trade documents his father had received from his peers in Russia and to translate them into Swedish for him.

Tino didn't fancy extra work, but that's what you get when lessons are slow. And he would have all afternoon to do it. But, his mind couldn't somehow focus on it and before he exited the classroom he turned to ask.

"Mr Vanhanen, sir. Can I ask, what do you know about the poor?"

"The poor? What brought this up?"

"Tonight, I took a walk throughout Turku. There was several people who had nothing, and I have not noticed how little they seem to have. I know it's been brought up, but why aren't we helping them more? I mean, we have these lavish feasts and we never have to worry about food or warmth."

Mr Vanhanen shook his head.

"Tino, Tino. Do not trouble yourself with that. They are matters best left for others."

"For whom, then?"

"For the king maybe, but I doubt he truly cares. For God most likely, but there will always be those who are poor, so that some, like yourself, can be rich."

"But is that fair?"

"Are you God, by any chance Tino? Life isn't fair, but we live and know this. If I were you I wouldn't worry too much about it, and be happy with the birth that God blessed you with."

"But..."

"Enough Tino. You better hurry and get something to eat."

Tino nodded and stepped into the hall, where Mr Virtanen, the main butler, waited for him.

"Sir Väinämöinen, your mother is expecting you to accompany her for breakfast. From what I gather, she wishes to speak with you."

"Thank you, Mr Virtanen. Where is she?"

"The smaller dining room, sir."

-000-

The Väinämöinen was a pretty large mansion, with many rooms and chambers. It certainly was no castle, but it was large and had all the luxurious and comforts of the century. The most important rooms were heated with stoves, so the temperatures were kept warmer than the outdoors. There were young boys from town who had been hired to keep the fires lit all day long, and loads of firewood to last all winter.

The smaller dining room was situated close to his mother's chamber. His mother rarely spent much time around the house. Usually you would find her in her personal chamber, the smaller dining room, where she would usually eat or the saloon, where she'd be tended by the maids and a few of the ladies that would come to accompany her. She had married into the family when his father had been looking for a wife, and found one among an old business partner. His partner had, by good ties, decided that they'd wed and tie the families together. Tino truly hated this about the nobility. There were no feelings or emotions involved. Only business or social standards. His mother had taken command of the household, nearly chased his old grandmother out, and now dominated the house with her personal decisions.

Tino loved his mother, but he feared her. She had made it firm that she dictated his life, but Tino wanted something more than being yet another pawn. Maybe this is why his parents could never get along.

They were simply equally stubborn.

Tino knocked thrice, before his mother's soft words told him to enter. And so he did.

The table was lined with caviar, different types of meats, bread, butter, cheeses, fish and sauces. It would have any poor man's mouth water and think they'd gone to heaven.

His mother was sitting by the end of the table and nibbled on a small piece of bread with some butter and caviar. Tino helped himself with several dishes, but he too ate quite sparely. His mother barely touched the food, and Tino wondered what would happen with this was over.

There was an uncomfortable silence as they ate. Tino didn't know what to say, he felt like his mother was quite alien to him. But he felt like he needed to break the ice somehow.

"Mother..."

His mother put down the bread she was nibbling on, and looked intensely into his eyes.

"Yes, my son."

"A-about last night."

His mother stared at him. It wasn't a glare, but it might as well be one. There was something almost hurtful in her eyes, as well as anger.

"I have never been so humiliated in my life." his mother said simply. "I had plans to introduce you to old Sverkersson's daughter, but when I sent for you I was told you couldn't be found. And the man has ties with the royal family Tino, the royalties themselves. It could have been your entire future."

She kept a firm gaze on him.

"Where were you? What was so important that you had to leave?"

Tino was nervous. He was sure his mother wouldn't find this easy to grasp.

"I was... I was out in town."

"In town?"

"Yes, Ilmari..." he paled, realising his mother did not like him talking to _normal_ people, but the damage was done. "Ilmari asked me to come with him. Said he needed some help."

"And?"

Tino couldn't lie, he had never been good at it. His grandmother had warned him that liars went to hell.

"He took me to a hostel. He, he loves one of the girls there, but he owed the matron money. So, so he asked me to help out."

"And, did you?"

Tino felt like fainting.

"I... I did."

"Tino!" her voice was harsh, and unforgiving. To his mother, whores were the worst kind of people.

"I left straight after that." Tino tried, but it was too late.

"You paid whores! Tino, how... the very shame!" his mother stood up and groaned.

"Th... That's not all." Tino said, knowing he was in deep trouble.

"Really.." his mother said, in horror.

"I... I got lost and ended up in an alley. I met... I met some of the poorer. I gave them some money, and my coat."

Her exprssion changed from anger to complete loss. She gasped, but couldn't find words. Then she clearly boomed to one of the butlers:

"Ge my husband! Now!" she ordered.

Tino and his mother waited in silence, then his father arrived and he didn't seem pleased.

"You called, Aino. Make it quick, I leave in a few hours. I have business in town."

"Your business stands here." Tino's mother said sternly. "Tino, tell him what you told me."

And Tino did, a faster rendition and a little less stuttering. When he finished his father crossed his arms, and stared at him. But to Tino's surprise, his gaze quickly diverted to his mother.

"You called me over for this? Aino, I give our child money to do what he wishes, and clearly he is no boy and smart enough to put his money to things that could bring good causes. Tino, you may go, I will not scold you. I see nothing wrong with helping others, but don't make it into a habit. We work just as hard to earn our money, and if we gave it all away we'd work even for less than a maid."

Tino nodded and walked out, but he left the door ajar and listened to his parents arguing.

"The boy is a disgrace! Showering his money over peasants and whores, he's a disgrace for the entire kingdom!"

"Will you stop it, Aino! I don't care about your stupid attempts of buying yourself a crown, because you will not corrupt my son with your stupid fantasies."

"Fantasies, how dare you!"

"You need to wake up, and you have no excuse about whoring. I know what happens in this house when I leave. Haven't you had several lovers already while I've been gone?"

"What... who told you that? Which servant, I shall fire them all on the spot!"

"You shall not, this is my original home and not yours. Besides, it wasn't a servant, it was one of the poor men you cast aside when his dick wasn't big enough for you."

Tino heard a crash as something was thrown.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

"I DARE!" his father roared back. "I am tired of you running this household like a puppetry. Open your eyes woman, and notice how the world is changing. It's much bigger than this little theatre that you run. The crown is losing power, our king is a fool and puppet of greater times. People are talking Aino, they want Finland to stand on its own."

"What monstrosity!"

"It's the world, woman. You should try to experience it slightly, before your brain starts to rot."

There was another crash, right at the door. Tino jumped in surprise, and hurried away before either his father or mother started to check the hallway.

Tino fled back to his room, and closed the door behind him. He climbed into his bed and simply lay there. He was worried, his father's words didn't help him either. All his life he had felt safe, but what if his father was right? What if Finland would stand on his own. Where would that put him?

He lay there for seemingly hours. He somehow fell asleep, and woke to find the moon shining through his window. He checked his watch, it was only 4 pm, so he hadn't missed dinner.

Not that it truly mattered.

He sat down, tried to get his work down, but found he couldn't concentrate at all. Everything that had happened these last 24h seemed to haunt him.

He needed air.

He grabbed one of his coats, this was a grey one that another of his friends had given him to sneak out in, it was less noticeable than his usual garments. Still, he wore fancier boots than the most, but the coat would allow him to blend in with the crowds.

He needed to talk to someone. His mother was absolutely out of the question, and his father was most likely not to be seen for a while. But he had another friend he could go to.

Tino opened his large window. As a kid he used to climb the vines to escape on occasion to talk to the stars. He knew now that stars weren't the souls of the dead, but maybe heaven was there somewhere.

"Wish me luck, grandma." he whispered as he started to climb down. The ivy had thicker branches and he was quite light. Slowly, he climbed down and then hurried away from the mansion. He knew he would get in trouble for this later, but right now it wasn't important at all.

The air was chilly, but he didn't care. He needed to find his friend, he would most likely be at the tavern by the docks.

Little did he notice the shadowy figure that watched him, barely noticeable in the faint light of the moon.

-000-

_You hurry through this silent town,_

_like a fox chasing a hare._

-000-

A/N: I hate putting God into my stories so often. It's not like I feel bad about talking about it, but every time I do I feel as if someone will turn away from the story for religious references. And for the fact that God can be different depending on culture and religion. We're not all Protestant Christian after all, as most of my interpretations go.

Ps: As my friendly reviewer reminded me, I never mentioned exactly how old Tino is. Finland/Tino's birthday is in December 6, which makes him somewhat older than 16. In short, he is quite young. This has been added in the first chapter, if you want to check for yourself. Thank you so much, Rylee Wyatt!

**Trivia: **

**Poverty:** Sweden was very different in the 18th century from now. A very, very small part of Sweden were nobles, but more commonly you were farmers and a small population lived in the cities. The 18th century was sadly printed by bad harvest, which lead to mass starvations in both Sweden and Finland. This story takes place in the town, where I didn't want to show the same level of poverty, as more classes exist here than outside, but it was often not luxurious.


	5. Towards the end you reach the cliffs

Hi everyone, hope you are all doing well. Me, not so much. I've gotten tonsilitis, which is, as you may guess, great when you have a 14h flight waiting for you Sunday-Monday. Yes, it's almost time for departure so hejdå (goodbye) Sweden and nihao (hello) China. Don't worry, updates should be back on schedule after a week or two. i might need a few days to settle in though, seeing how I am moving for ten months. I am so excited, of course my health could be better. Luckily, my symptoms alerted me yesterday evening, and I went to the doctor this morning, so medically I should be fine. But still, it suxks because I used to get tonsilitis quite often as a kid.

Anyway, enough about me... (I try to keep my private life to a minimum these day on FF-net).

News: The sequel for BBI named Bites, Distance, Devotion has now been posted, so check that out if you are interested. It's a IceHong story (because I had to continue Emil's story), and it will include parts of DenNor, SuFin and slight China x Russia.

And finally: This chapter has been among the hardest I've written in a while. Not because I haven't had a clue what to write, but more or less because it requires a lot of historical details for this story, that I haven't known about before. The 18th century Sweden is sadly among the periods I've known least about, mainly because it is considered as a period of peace, and most of our old history lessons had less times to discuss the peaceful times of Sweden, in comparison to our greater kings and their wars.

**Blood, Love, Hunger**

**Chapter 5**

**Towards the end you reach the cliffs,**

**are you afraid of falling?**

Tino crossed his arms over his chest. The docks were much colder than the centre of town. The wind was gaining momentum, and even if the sea was clean from ice, it was freezing cold. The tavern he was looking for was located close to sea and was the home for many tired sailors and people who worked at the docks. Tino noted there were several of them on the walk away from his destination, and most of them were quite drunk.

Tino dodged these men by hiding in any possibly shadow once he saw them. He had met drunk sailors before, and found that many of them were quite perverted. This wasn't how all sailors were, but Big bonny Bengt and Seaweed Sucker Simo were quite well known even at sea for having a thing about young males.

Tino still managed to dodge both men, whom he guessed had once more been thrown out of the tavern for most likely, good reasons. The young Finn soon reached his destination, a smaller house mashed between two taller ones. The sign outside said: Onnelini Silli.

Tino stared at the sign for half a minute, before he stepped inside.

Inside the tavern it was warm. The tavern was small, but filled with regular costumers drinking various beverages by small tables or by the larger fireplace. Tino walked over to a young man, who was cleaning out large mugs. The man was whistling, and not paying attention to his surroundings whatsoever. An older man, his father, was entertaining his customers with rounds of rich alcoholic beverages.

"Jouko." Tino said, making the man jump.

"Tino, what are you doing here?" the man asked.

"Looking for you."

Jouko tipped his head. Tino considered Jouko to be his second closest friend. In comparison, while Ilmari was the kind of friend who would teach you to expand your world, which Tino loved. Sure enough, Ilmari could be annoying and sometimes oblivious to Tino's needs, but he had a loyalty that was unwavering.

Jouko was the kind of guy that prefered to keep his eyes to his surroundings and he prefered to stay where he was, at his father's tavern. This was a very useful feature, since Jouko's father was technically Tino's father's eyes and ears by the docks. This is how they had met during one of those visits when Tino's father wanted news.

Jouko eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, why would you be looking for me?"

"I... well... you know most about Turku, don't you?"

"Most, but my old man knows more." Jouko answered. He tended to reference his father as his _old man_. He would in a similar fashion talk to and about his mother as _ma'_.

"Well, what can you tell me about the alleys behind the merchant roads?"

Jouko raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, but didn't comment. Instead he turned to his father and said in a low voice.

"Old man, me and Tino will head to the barrel-room. If ma' needs me, tell her I'll help her later."

The barrel-room was a wine-cellar. When they had been young they had spent many hours playing hide and seek among the barrels. Wine wasn't a common beverage among the sailors, but Jouko's father also sold barrels to Tino's father. Tino had nearly drowned in one of the larger barrels during one of their games, and he was a little cautious of some of the larger ones. He hadn't even been playing that one time where the accident happened, the lid of the barrel had rotted and broke under him.

Jouko sat down on a wooden crate, and motioned for Tino to do the same. The room smelled of wine and various other products. The crate Tino sat on smelled of dried pears.

"So...why the sudden curiosity on Turku's poorest districts?" Jouko asked.

"Well, yesterday evening I accidentally walked there." Tino explained.

"Accidentally... didn't your old folks hold this big feast? My old man told me, he sent two large barrels up there."

"Yes, but I didn't stay. Ilmari dragged me down town..." and Tino proceeded to explain about his adventures from the previous night.

Jouko listened, like he always did and only when Tino had finished did he speak.

"That Ilmari will one day find himself on the wrong side of the law. I can't see why he'd openly show his passion for women who open their legs for anyone. But, your story is not strange. It's sadly been tougher lately."

"How so? The winter has been mild."

"Too mild. We'd need a good frost for next years harvest. Not that it matters, the last few years have been horrid. A lot of the poorer outside town are starving to death. But there are other problems. Raised taxes, some bad decease has sprung out, and not to mention that people are generally getting tired of the higher ups."

"What do you mean?" Tino didn't like what he heard, but he felt inclined to continue the conversation.

"Well, this may not concern you really, because I haven't heard anyone really speak bad about the Väinämöinen family since your father gave back all that land to us. And he set up the emergency food stations to keep as many as possible fed throughout the winter It's most of the other families, who's been dancing to the crown. You know, sailors from Stockholm came the other night, and spoke of how the king was this charade of former greater kings. He even set last centuries fashion as the latest, and no one really cares anymore. I've heard some nobles want him off the crown. All this misery has sparked talk about freeing Finland from Swedish rule."

"I see." Tino said.

"Yes, so people are miserable. Times have been tough lately. Especially here, did you hear about the fire?"

"No." Tino admitted. "When did this happen."

"The morning before yesterday. The Baker's burnt down, and it brought a number of houses with it. Thankfully, it started raining and the people managed to fight the fire. But the fires struck the poorer areas the worst. I've seen many who's drunk their sorrows away these last two days. They've lost most they own, apart from their clothes and the content of their pockets."

Jouko paused.

"And those who lost everything won't get anything back."

Tino looked saddened.

"What do you mean?"

"The mayor, I heard some of the townsfolk talk about it. Apparently the fire spread to some merchants corners, so those will be prioritized. I am sure they are going to rebuild, but that will have to wait until they're done. Unless the poor goes to cut the wood themselves."

Tino frowned. "Why would he say that? Everyone deserves a home?"

"That's what your father told him a few hours ago. The old man told me that they had a meeting. I heard your father would probably get some shelters built for them, only temporary until we can get carpenters here."

Tino gave a sigh of relief. "That's good. I am glad father noticed."

"So are we all. Sadly the I've heard higher nobles regard your family as a nuisance."

"You mean the ones with tall, powdered wigs and expressions that could rival a royalty?" Tino asked with a smirk, and then the two started to laugh.

"Speaking of which..." Jouko said between chuckled. "Did you honestly stay out all night without a coat?"

Tino chuckled, and a blush started to form on his cheeks.

"Kind of." he admitted.

Jouko snickered. "I would have loved to see that. A lost Noble, all alone on the streets and with nothing but his thin clothing to keep him warm."

Tino huffed. "It wasn't that bad, those poor souls needed it and..." Tino stopped mid sentence. A tall figure flashed suddenly into his already scrambled memory, and briefly he reminisced on the touch of lips against his own, a large demanding presence wanting to explore his entire being. Tino paused for a moment, before Jouko suddenly poked him.

"Tino? What's the matter, don't space out on me."

Tino jumped. "Sorry, I was... well... uhm... er... Jouko... can you tell me has anyone new arrived lately?"

Jouko raised an eyebrow.

"No... why do you ask?"

"Well, I did meet someone I haven't seen before. We... er... we kind of talked."

"Kind of? I don't get you."

"Well, okay we didn't really talk. Okay, promise not to tell anyone, not a soul."

And Tino explained about the gang that had tried to rape him, and about his unknown saviour. He did leave out the kiss, he didn't want Jouko to get the wrong idea. And Jouko didn't ask any questions.

Jouko was quiet for a moment, but then he said slowly.

"I have no idea who attacked you, but if I ever see them I'll butcher them myself. Those are ungodly acts. You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I mean, they never managed to do anything."

"Well, I'll thank God for that. But the stranger, well..."

Jouko looked up towards one of the small holes that acted like window to the streets.

"A few days ago ma' asked me to clean up some of the barrels for dried meat that had moulded, worst smell ever. I was alone, it was late, and finished up when my old man came down to ask me to help a costumer. Some merchant from Sweden, a carpenter I think, who was fixing our sign. Anyway, I met this strange man with a funny accent, a very old accent you can say. He wanted help with some deliveries. While I helped him with the counts, he kept asking questions."

"Questions, about what?"

"The town really... he asked who was in charge, how many I guessed lived in this area and how well furniture would sell. He was quite skilled, so I guessed he was looking for a new market. But he also asked question about your family."

"My family?"

"Okay, maybe not just yours. He asked about the older families, the ones who has lived here for quite some time. Funnily, he asked as well about the Pajari and the af Leijonborg, but Lord Pajari moved away from Turku over a hundred years ago. They say that he received new lands in southern Sweden. My old man told me, my great grandfather was a stableboy there. And the last of the af Leijonborg was beaheded for treachery 25 years back."

"That's odd."

"I thought so as well. Anyway, I think he is staying somewhere in the woods." Jouko said confidently.

"What makes you say that?"

"The smell. He smelled strongly of trees. Okay, maybe he had just arrived from a long travel in the woods, but he seemed to want trees around him."

Tino was confused.

"What do you mean?"

"It was the way he spoke while he fixed the sign. He spoke as if the wood was an old friend of his. Like he knew the trees themselves. I don't know what madness he was talking about, but I guess he feels close to nature. He left as soon as he was done."

-000-

Tino exited Onnelini Silli, still unsatisfied regarding the information he sought. He had cleared most of his thoughts about the poverty and he swore as soon as he was home he'd help his father with the rebuilds. But, at the same time a lot more question had risen, questions even Jouko, his eyes and ears in Turku, couldn't answer.

Tino walked slowly back towards the mansion. The streets were almost completely empty now, except for the last shopkeepers who were putting away signs and outdoor props. Curtains and shutters closed as the people inside retired for the evening. Tino yawned, it was indeed getting late.

He was just about to head towards the main street back towards the mansion, when he noticed a man walking towards him. His eyes widened slightly, and he stood frozen in his tracks. The man was slightly taller than himself, and eyes that seemingly seemed to pierce into your soul. Tino wanted to move, and he wanted to say something. It had to mean something to see this man again.

The man's eyes met his, and quickly diverted away. The strange man turned and walked away from him. Only then was Tino able to move, his determination to get answers were stronger than whatever kept his legs locked.

Tino hurried after him, but the man was gone. But this time he didn't lose sight. He could see the man by the gates, heading out into the forest. The gates would soon close, and...

Tino darted towards one of the near-gate stables, drew out some silver and paid a stableboy to lend him a horse. He would need it. The forest was dangerous at night, and there was no telling of the amount of wild animals or magic beings that could give chase to him.

Tino mounted and soon he rode our into the darkened forest. He ignored the two guards, who called after him, wondering where he was heading in such hurry? Soon their voices were drowned by the rustling of leaves, the wind that fanned his face and the sound of hooves hitting the soft ground.

'_This is madness. I'm never going to find him. I'll most likely kill myself out here in the middle of nowhere._' he thought, and slowed down the pace. The horse breathed deeply. Tino looked up, to see that the top of the trees covered even the moonlight to get close to him, and he realised just now that he had no way to light his path. He carried neither torch nor lantern.

'_Typical. Tino Väinämöinen, you are an idiot to head out here all alone._'

Tino halted the horse's movements, and figured he should turn altogether and come back to his senses. He felt wary, in this strange dark environment and who knew what could give chase to him here. There was a howl...

'_Werewolves?'_ Tino wondered, and panicked. His horse did the same, and started to move back and forth, wishing to run.

The horse started to move forward again, Tino clung to the reigns. Luckily, the howling slowly vanished. Whatever had been out there, it didn't give chase on them. But slowly, he realised that he wasn't steering. The horse was moving away from something that frightened it, and even if Tino tried to pull the reigns, the horse didn't obey him.

_'Move, come on. Move back!'_ Tino thought desperately. In the distance he saw lights, but the lights scared him. A sole light in the woods could mean anything, from a late traveller, to bandits or even the horrid spirit that would try to purposely lure him to his despair.

Then there was a crack behind him, and before he knew the horse took off, with him on it's back. Tino yelped as the horse moved away from the road, into the forest. The young rider panicked, as he realised that he slowly left every possible way for him to find his way home behind him.

Tino tugged the reins even harder, but no more or less had he finally managed to gain some control when the horse staggered and threw him off. Then, to his horror, the animal bolted away. Tino landed on the ground with a thud, and watched as the faint silhouette of his horse swiftly vanished.

"No, come back! Perkele!" he cried out.

Tino slammed his fist to the ground. It was dark, the cold was slowly seeping through his skin. With a defeated sigh he stood up.

"What to do, what to do..." honestly he wasn't sure how to get back to town. He rarely ever ventured outside the gates on his own, and these weren't the parts of the woods that he was familiar with. Right now each tree looked like a demon, stretching its branches to try to take him away and every mossy stone could easily be some sort of troll, ready to grab him. He ran. Every sound, each crack, even his own footsteps felt like a massive threat. And what if the wolves came back.

He ran in the direction he believed the road was, but after a few minutes he realised that there was no point in it. He was undoubtedly lost, and twice he returned to an old sign that had such faded marks of letters that it couldn't have been used for many, many years. The sign itself lay uselessly on the ground, hidden partially by leaves and he only discovered it by stumbling on it.

The third time his foot hit the sign he felt like crying. But he realised how useless it would be, after all no one but the spirits and creatures would be able to hear him. And some of them would undoubtedly try to use his tears to their advantage.

'_One more... just one more try. I need to find the road. I need to get home. If I don't, father will never trust me and mother will never forgive me._'

He was tired and near falling asleep when he finally saw a glimpse of hope. He had stumbled into a clearing, and was sure he was either dead and in heaven or simply asleep and dreaming when he spotted the lit windows of a large cottage. The walls were built of strong timber, and the roof was made from stone, layered in patterns. A window was opened, and revealed warm light, from most likely a fire. Tino ran up to it, not caring if he was intruding. He ran up to the door, and knocked.

No one answered,

And the door opened on the first knock.

Tino jumped back a step in surprise, but curiosity got the better of him and he looked inside. The cottage was large. It seemed to be constructed by several rooms, and when he stepped inside he saw a small room with a fireplace, a large wooden table and some wooden chairs. All looked carved with the finest of details.

There were three doors. One was opened, and seemed to lead to a bedroom. The two other doors were closed. One seemed to lead to the back of the house, but the third Tino couldn't guess. Still, he didn't give much thought to this. He stepped inside and approached the warm fire.

No more or less had he taken a few steps when something foreboding and cold seemingly ran through his spine. A hand touched his shoulder. Tino was turned around and found himself face to face with no one else than the man that had kissed him. But now the man didn't look like some sort of stranger anymore. Those intense blue eyes seemed to gaze into his soul, and this very gaze frightened him. Tino wanted to scream, but his voice simply wouldn't reach. Thus he did the only thing that seemed to make sense. He fainted, and blissfully left the world of consciousness for a moment.

-000-

_Towards the end you reach the cliffs,_

_are you afraid of falling?_

-000-

A/N: Next chapter will be longer, as I have much more to cover. But I wanted to end this somehow into a cliffhanger. What will happen to Tino now? You'll just wait and see.

There are probably a million references in these chapters that are historically wrong. These are the main factors that somehow will knit this story together with this era:

**Trivia:**

**Jouko:** is another character who I've borrowed from Kalevala. In Kalevala he is known as Joukahainen, and he was another _hero_ who challenged Väinämöinen in magic. He was also brother to Aino.

I kept the idea that Jouko had some skills, and would be important, but not in magic but as a person who could easily read people and relay information. However, Joukahainen in the story is upset at Väinämöinen for marrying his sister and shoots Väonämöinen at one point. Instead of this, as I have other protagonists in mind, I made Jouko Tino's friend and ally.

**The resistance: **The resistance in Finland was probably something that has always existed, since Finland and Sweden as bordering nations have very different cultural ethics. Swedish was almost a minority kept to the nobility, and the language you had to learn if you wanted to get somewhere. Finnish was, to my knowledge, still spoken by most. During this time both Finland and the Swedish province Scania wanted to part from Sweden, both these resistances failed, however Finland, unlike Scania, eventually would gain independence 1917.

**Magic: **superstitions were common at this period of times, and magic wasn't strange, it existed. The witch burnings were gone, but people still believed that magical beings existed and that you could do cures by eating certain things or doing certain rituals. Sweden was moving away from superstition, but it still existed for a long time. Even today we have certain superstitions left, such as saying: "Prosit" after someone sneezes (means _Bless you_) or walk on sewage lids labelled A.

To explain the lids: there are three letters used, A, K and V. As a kid, I remember we had a ritual in which K stood for kärlek (love), V stood for vänskap (friendship), but A could only stand for bad things such as avund or avsky (jealousy or disgust). To make the magic work, and bless yourself you'd only step on K and V lids, and avoid the A lids.

In reality, the lids are labelled for different purposes. A is avlopp (sewage), K is kombination (combination, it combines different pipes) and V is vatten (water).

**Werewolves and other creatures:** Werewolves was one of many creatures you had to be careful of. Since wolves exist in Northern Europe, and have for a long time, there has long bee the idea of people who were partly animals. Sweden had a rich culture of creatures you had to be wary of or try to please. Some of the most common ones were: gårdstomte (guardian and protector of the farm, but could equally brings bad fortune if you angered him, since he is the original habitant of your farm), rå (a spirit, usually female, that either guards a specific landmark like mine or forest, or would seduce you with her beauty), lyktgubbe (will-o-wisp man, who would lure you into the bog), giant (huge humanish being, that is aggressive and very strong), or troll (goblin, in many shapes or forms. Literally, the Nordic nations can write books about the many species of goblins, from small as mushrooms to giants with three heads).

**Other notes:**

**Onnelini silli** is supposed to say Happy Herring, but for this I don't (as always) trust Google translate, so if anyone from Finland can correct me, please do. I've checked a few online dictionaries, but since I know nothing about Finnish, I can't judge right from wrong.


	6. No matter what, there are no ifs

And Berwald speaks... his speech will be greatly improved throughout this story, but since I bet no one will be able to understand what he says, I am putting all his dialogue within brackets, unless Tino needs to translate the dialogue from time to time. Also, at times he will switch to Swedish (his native tongue) in which it will be much, much easier to understand him. In short, Berwald's Finnish is awful... like most Swedes would probably put it. Swedes are generally not taught Finnish, but I've heard from several Finns that Swedish is still taught in Finland. Poor Finland, he has to live up to so many expectations, and sadly... I honestly doubt Sweden cares these days. Though, it is very cute.

**Bites, Love, Hunger**

**Chapter 6**

**No matter what, there are no ifs**

**your heart does all the calling.**

He woke up with the feeling of being warm and safe.

The first thing he noticed was that he was lying down on a bed. It was slightly harder than his usual bed, but it wasn't uncomfortable. The second thing he noticed was the arm draped over him, and the soft heat of someone's breath to his neck. Thirdly he realised that someone else was in bed with him, and judging by the feeling of skin touching his own, this man wasn't wearing any clothes.

Tino's face reddened even more when he realised that he too wasn't wearing anything, and it was so embarrassing. What was worse? Whoever that lay beside him had most likely seen him in his birthday suit. Even his own mother had most likely never gazed at him like this. An arm was draped over his upper half. It was slightly bigger than his own. Tino was in one way relieved, in one way not, that whoever lay beside him was most likely a man.

Tino felt the man beside him stir, and moved closer to his neck.

"Ev'n'n'."

Tink blinked. He was pretty sure the man had said good evening to him, or some short version of it. But it was almost impossible to hear him say it properly."

"Er... morning."

"N't m'rn'n'... (not morning)" the man murmured. "Ev'n'n'." the man corrected.

"Right." Tino said with a tense smile. "Evening."

The man beside him rose to his elbows. As soon as Tino got full view of the strange man's face he yelped and hid. Memories of the previous night came back to him and he realised that the intense gaze was still there.

"D'n't w'rr'. (Don't worry)." the man said.

"Sorry." Tino murmured, braving himself to look back. The man looked slightly hurt by his actions, and Tino felt slightly ashamed for doing it.

_"My eyes are intense, I know._" the man answered. He had switched over to speak Swedish, and now Tino found it easier to understand. By his accent Tino guessed that the man was indeed from the western half of the nation, the one that rarely spoke any Finnish at all. "_My name's Berwald_."

"Berwald?" Tino asked. It was a strange and rare name. "My name is Tino."

"T'n'."

"No, Ti-no"

"T'no."

"Better, I think." Tino said and smiled weakly.

Berwald smiled back at him, a strange smile but Tino was sure it was a smile and that made him relax a little. Until he remembered that he was still completely naked.

Tino draped the blanket further up, and blushed furiously.

"Please, don't stare." he said.

_"Why not? You're beautifu_l." Berwald said.

"I'm... I'm not wearing anything." Tino explained and blushed even more.

Berwald shook his head.

"D'n't 'nd'rst'nd." he muttered and rose out of bed and stretched. Tino eeped and hid even further, as Berwald's full glory appeared before him. The taller man didn't take notice, nor did he note when Tino's curiosity got the better of him. No matter how fast he was, he still got some good view of the well toned muscles and the pale skin, not to mention... (Tino couldn't believe he had even taken note of this) ...that part.

There was a rustling of clothes, and slow steady footsteps as Berwald stepped out from the bedroom to most likely make something to eat. Tino took this as his opportunity to get dressed. To his horror he realised that he had never dressed himself properly before. Nor were any of his usual clothes there. He found a plain white shirt, made from soft materials, the he put on, but the buttons were a huge hassle. There was a sky blue best, but this too had buttons and by now he was too furious to try them. There were small white underpants and khaki coloured pants to wear over them, but none of the usual clothing that Tino was used to. With a blush he stepped outside the bedroom, fully aware of his mess. The clothes were slightly too big for him, and yet they were too small to fit his strange new companion.

The bigger room was lit by a large fire by an open stove, and gave some light to the otherwise dark interior. Berwald stood by a large pot of stew. The taller man noticed him at once when he walked in, and simply walked over to correct the mistakes he had been unable to fix himself on his clothing. Silently, he showed Tino the proper way to button his shirt and west and then moved to serve him some stew he had made from rabbits.

It tasted delicious.

But Tino quickly noticed that Berwald wasn't eating.

"This is delicious. I never expected something like this to taste better than our own cook's cooking... Why aren't you eating?" he asked curiously, as the taller man sat down to watch him. It was slightly unnerving to have someone else observe you while you ate.

"_Can't._" Berwald answered.

"What do you mean? Oh, you ate before me didn't you?" Tino said, after all it had taken a while before he got out from the bedroom. Obviously a well built man such as Berwald could eat well. The poor tended to be much thinner, and would rarely get to eat their fill. Tino guessed he hunted, then he'd have food to last. Or maybe he was a lord of some sort, and used this house as an escape. Still, it was amazing to the young Finn to meet a man with such good skills. Normally women cooked.

"_No. I can't. Haven't eaten for over a few centuries. I'm a vampire_._ A creature of night. A nightwalker if you wish._" Berwald said.

Tino put down his spoon and stared at the taller man. A vampire? Briefly he had a recollection of a memory from his childhood of this creature who had not been human, but killed another creatureish being. Then the creature had carried him home. Tino blinked, then he clearly said:

"So it was you? You're the vampire I saw then?"

Berwald looked up at him. His expression was unreadable, and his eyes stared just as intensely on him as ever. It made Tino feel insecure about pointing his finger at the taller man.

"_What are you talking about?_" Berwald muttered. Tino had to listen very intensely to even understand what the taller man said, but once he did he looked back to his plate.

"Sorry." he said excusing himself. "I guess I mistook you for someone else." Tino grabbed a large spoon of rabbit stew.

"'_It's alright._" Berwald said, his eyes never leaving Tino's face.

Tino quickly gulped down his stew. Berwald rose, took the small, empty bowl and put it in an empty basket. He motioned for Tino to stay, while he headed out. He also brought Tino's old clothes, who Tino saw, in the small flash he did see anything, were pretty dirty from last night.

Tino watched Berwald until the door closed, then he sat quietly in the firelit darkness and waited.

And had some time to collect his thoughts.

The fire was warm, and seemingly and the heat made the room warmer than most of the stoves in the mansion. Then again, the room wasn't very large so Tino guessed that the heat was simply closer to him. Tino walked over to it, where the pot had been left. There was still some stew in the bottom. It felt like a waste. He was full, and if Berwald wouldn't eat it, then they would have to throw it out.

Speaking of the tall man. Tino wondered what else Berwald had yet to tell him. His nursemaids had told him many stories of creatures like werewolves, witches and ghosts. Only one had ever mentioned vampires, and it was a story her French grandmother had told her. That old woman, bless her soul, had said to have been seduced by a blond vampire many, many years ago.

Tino also wondered where this house was located, and once Berwald got back, if he'd be able to guide him back home. He was certain everyone were worried about him, and his mother was most likely furious again. Tino sighed. The whole idea of that you had to be someone just because you were born a certain way was such a unfair way, but at the same time he didn't dare think about how life would be if it wasn't like that. Then what would he be?

As he was thinking Berwald returned. Tino noted that the taller man was carrying his clothes, and they looked less dirty, but wet. Berwald had obviously washed them, and seemingly a good job.

"Berwald."

"Hm." the taller man grunted.

"How, how can you be a vampire?" Tino asked, nervously. He tried to control his nervousness, but there was something about this man that really scared him.

Berwald shrugged and walked closer to him. He knelt down in front of Tino, and took the Finn's wrist to his mouth. At first he started to kiss the soft flesh, making Tino flustered. It felt amazingly good, but the pleasant feeling of Berwald's lips to his arm was disrupted by a sharp pain. Tino yelped as Berwald's sharper teeth broke through the skin.

"Ouch, what..." Tino gasped and retrieved his arm, to see small puncture wounds on it.

"_Your blood taste amazing, but don't worry. I will not harm you._" Berwald said, and licked his lips. "'_As for our story..._" he began and started.

What Tino learnt within the first few hours of his life were some of the most interesting things he had ever heard. A vampire, was a human being who had consumed the blood of another vampire. This was usually done in such a way that the vampire would drain you from almost all of your blood, and in you dying moments offer his own. This bond would ensure that you'd stay together for a long period of time, while you as the younger vampire could be taught the skills of hunting and fighting. He, Berwald, had been turned many centuries ago, before the nations of the North had even been born, by a vampire by the name of Aldric. Aldric had been one of the strongest vampires in the region, but now that he was gone the vampires fought for his old territories. As such, Berwald had gained a huge victory by claiming the large territory that he had, and he spent his years guarding and defending it.

Tino also learnt that vampires were technically all dead. Once Berwald was turned he left his mortal life and gained a form of immortality. But it wasn't a pleasant gain. It was a lonely life he had, and by such he seemed almost grateful to have Tino with him for the moment. Vampires also had a huge weakness, the sun. Berwald slept during the day, which is why he lived outside of Turku. Less people would notice this way.

Tino was about to ask him about Turku, and how to get back to the town, when Berwald declared that he would get back to bed, and Tino should too. The Finn only noticed first then that the sun was going to rise soon, something that surprised him. Had their storytelling really taken this long?

_"Go to bed. I'll join you. We can talk more tomorrow._" Berwald said softly. He rose to his feet and started to remove his shirt. Tino, who was not used to this kind of at ease with this level of nakedness fled to the bedroom, where he simply removed his vest, after much struggle, and his pants (he didn't want them to be wrinkled). He kept his underpants and shirt on.

Tino slipped under the cover, as far away from the door as he could squirm, and had his nose pressed to the wall when Berwald entered. Tino didn't dare to look at him, scared of the view from earlier, but felt Berwald lie down beside him. Tino tensed, but felt the vampire relax, one arm slung over Tino's smaller body, chest pressed to his back and lips pressed to his neck.

Slowly, Berwald's breath ebbed away, making Tino even more scared. The man beside him stopped breathing, as the minutes went by and the sun rose. Tino contemplated to run, but found that the vampire's grip on him was impossible to get loose from. Trembling, he lay there unsure what to do, until exhaustion took him and he finally did fall asleep.

-000-

Tino had a most pleasant dream that night.

_He was back in the mansion, in the master bedroom. The mansion was his, as the next in line of the Väinämöinen family. He was lying down, dressed in nothing but a plain white silk shirt. The bed was equally made in blue silk bedlinen._

_But he wasn't alone. No, Berwald was with him. The taller figure hovered above him, just as naked as that morning when Tino had first seen him. His proud member rose, to rub against Tino's uncovered lower regions. The Finn moaned, as their hips moved. Equally, the taller man was kissing him, hard, and ravished the insides of his mouth._

_Tino moaned shamelessly, as Berwald started to stroke his own neglected member. Berwald stopped rubbing, and lowered himself to take Tino's member into his mouth. Now all Tino could do was to grasp onto the sheets, as Berwald sucked him. And damn, was that man talented with his mouth._

_But he wasn't allowed to come. Tino groaned, as Berwald stopped his actions. His hair was plastered to his forehead, a think layer of sweat covered his skin. The shirt he was wearing felt very uncomfortable at the moment, and Berwald seemed to notice._

_Berwald kissed him again, and trailed kisses down each button as he removed the annoying clothing. Tino couldn't understand for the life of him why this kind of sensual act could be forbidden. By law, sexual exchanges could only be done between man and wife in order to conceive a child. An act such as this would be a sin, even between a married couple._

_Berwald kissed the tip of his member, as the shirt was tossed to the ground. Tino gasped, as the taller man lifted his bottom slightly to enter him. He had been waiting for this, and he needed to feel his lover so badly. Berwald pushed in. It didn't hurt, it simply felt blissful,_

"_B-Ber..." Tino moaned as Berwald started to move almost instantly. There was no pain, there was no need to adjust. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. Berwald's member pumped into him frantically. The vampire was moaning in his ear as the pace quickened. Tino himself couldn't help but to voice his pleasure audibly, and it seemed to spark his lover's actions even more._

_Tino's came with Berwald's name on his lips. Berwald emptied himself inside him a few seconds later, groaning as he came. They were panting heavily, as Tino kissed Berwald on every available patch of skin that he could muster._

"_I love you." he told Berwald._

-000-

The first think Tino noticed when he woke up was that he was alone.

The second thing he noticed was the immense hardness inside his underpants. He blinked a few times, not sure as to why. He couldn't remember his dream, but he guessed it had been something highly interesting. Tino didn't fool himself, he wasn't a boy anymore. He was 17 after all. But it did puzzle him, as he rarely had such dreams, less alone did he understand who possibly could have sparked them.

He put his hands on Berwald's spot, and felt the slight warmth from it. That meant that it hadn't been long since Berwald awoke. It still frightened him that Berwald was technically dead. He knew, he had noticed when he felt the taller man's presence leave him. After a couple of minutes Berwald had stopped breathing entirely, which had frightened the young Finn even more. He sighed. He simply couldn't understand.

He sat up and stretched his stiff muscles. Flashes from their conversation yesterday still seemed to repeat themselves like a mantra in his tired head. He got dressed, and once more managed to mess up his buttons.

Tino was just about to walk out from the bedroom, when Berwald appeared. He was holding his old clothes, clean once again, and gave it back to him.

"Oh, thank you." Tino said with a smile.

"_Thought you might want them back._" Berwald muttered silently.

"Yes, thank you for your help. Uhm... Berwald. I know this experience has been pleasant and all that, but you see. I must head back to Turku tonight. My parents are probably very worried by now, and I cannot stay. I would like to... I mean, you seem to be a nice person. A bit exotic maybe, but nice and... oh what am I saying." Tino felt like smacking his head. Why was he so nervous?

But to his surprise, Berwald shook his head.

"_You can't. Impossible._" Berwald answered.

Tino was stunned, but he quickly regained his posture.

"Why on Earth can't I go. You're not holding me prisoner, are you? If it's money you want, I can pay you personally."

Not that he fully intended to. But the little trust he had in the strange man quickly faded. But Berwald didn't even blink. Instead he took Tino's hand, walked with him out from the bedroom and to the door. There he opened it to the vast darkness of the forest night.

Tino almost jumped in surprise. There was a chorus of howls in the cold night air.

"_Wolves._" Berwald said simply, and Tino understood. It would be dangerous to stay out with wolves in the night, and Berwald didn't seem armed.

Tino sighed in defeat. The wolves were hunting, and since he didn't want to be their next dinner he walked inside where Berwald had prepared another rabbit stew for him, with herbs.

-000-

And this is how the next few nights would happen. Every time he woke up Tino would be determined to leave, but each time something would just be wrong. The third evening it was hailing badly. The fourth the hail had turned into a winter storm. The fifth evening Berwald excused himself by adding that he would need to hunt for more food, if they wanted to survive the winter. Tino didn't even ask why this was necessary, it seemed plausible at the time.

The sixth evening Tino lay contently in Berwald's arm. He didn't feel like waking up just yet. The larger man was warm, and seemed to warm him to the deepest core of his bones. It was a pleasant heat as well. He had also slowly started to get used to Berwald's strange sleeping patterns, and wasn't as scared of the fact that he literally slept beside a corpse during the light of day. Because when Berwald slept, he too slept, so he wasn't as worried, because Berwald would never willingly harm him.

Tino groaned when Berwald finally announced that he would need to cook dinner for Tino. The Finn didn't want to leave the bed, he was warm, safe and he felt very content simply lying there. Berwald chuckled at the smaller man's antics.

"_Tino, you need to dress. If you behave, I'll take you with me today._" Berwald said with a small smile.

"Really, you don't want me to stay? You always tell me to stay here."

_"I know, but I figured you'd might want to stretch your legs for once. Besides, we won't go far._" Berwald said, and handled him his clothes. It was a simple grey vest Berwald had given him the other night, a grey coat to wear for the cold and his beige pants. He also had gotten used to dressing himself. Gone were the powdered wigs and huge sleeves. Tino smiled as Berwald held the door for him. He wasn't even afraid changing his clothes near the larger man, as long as Berwald turned around. He couldn't handle the intense gaze.

-000-

_No matter what, there are no ifs_

_your heart does all the calling._

-000-

A/N: Catching Berwald's unwillingless to talk (which actually suits him for this story) and Tino's endless babbling is a challenge for this story. And sorry for the very incoherent dialogue from our favourite Swede in the beginning, but his dialogues will get better. Not in this chapter, but I'll make sure he improves a lot. Which will be good, because I refuse to write his life story in dialogue. Th' 'm'nt of l'tt'rs th't 'd h'v' t' r'm'k' w'ld b' t' h'rd t' r'd (The amount of letters that I'd have to remake would be too hard to read). And neither do I actually want him to speak Swedish all the time.

And before you ask, why didn't Tino remember his dream? Well, how many dreams do you remember when you wake up?

There's also some interesting changes happening to Tino, aren't there? I cannot tell you more of these, but know they will be quite important for the story.

Trivia:

**Dressing: **Tino honestly doesn't know how to dress. I wanted the Väinämöinen family to be quite wealthy, thus they have a number of servants and dressing is therefore part of the servants' jobs. I like the idea of Tino growing throughout this story, and learn such mediocre things as putting on his clothes. There are of course reasons as to why the nobles wouldn't need to dress. If you've ever seen the layers nobles would wear then you'd understand that they'd been unable to handle all of those by themselves. Considering that at times the North is quite cold, they would need several layers because good heating had yet to be invented.

**Nudity: **To keep note, when Tino in this chapter is embarrassed is because a person in his underwear would be wearing a shirt and short pants. (Not kidding, I checked). Underwear during these periods would pretty much be called full clothing to many now. Also, it would be highly embarrassing to be caught in your underwear, so imagine being caught lying beside a stark naked man with absolutely no clothes on. And, no... you perverts. They haven't done anything yet, apart from that kiss.

And as for the dream, that is a completely different thing and has no connection to Tino's consciousness, hence why I allowed him to forget about it. Otherwise, I doubt he'd be able to ever look at Berwald again, poor guy.


	7. I just wish those pleasant days

I am so, so sorry for all delays, but I've had my hands full. I literally have moved off campus (from a bitch of a roommate), and it's been hellish fixing things on time, since China is quite particular as to where we all are. So, it's been running around, while I've had to fix all my papers (so I can stay), clean this place up and juggling university and homework. Not to mention that mid-term exams are nearing... *sighs*. I am looking forward to December, things should calm down by then.

Now, back to topic. I don't personally have anything against such things as undying love at first sight, but this is not one of those: undying love and happily ever after stories. I am trying to give these two as much time together as I possibly can, but I realised my timeline is a little screwed for something like this to be completely natural. However, things will be explained, and if you have read the start of Blood, Distance, Devotion, you an kind of see how things did go.

Ps: There is a flashback, in which Berwald speaks a lot. The whole dialogue will be written normally, not because Berwald's speech has improved, but because writing that much dialogue the way I've done so far would look too confusing for you. He has a lot to say for once.

**Bites, Love, Hunger**

**Chapter 7**

**I just wish those pleasant days**

**would simple never come to seize.**

March 1782

Several days passed.

And days turned to nearly two weeks together.

Tino pulled his coat closer around him. Spring had arrived, but the cold would still linger for several weeks. Tino happily watched as Berwald hunted for him. The larger man moved with such graze and was so fast that Tino barely was able to keep up by just his eyes alone. Still, it didn't stop the vampire from occasionally running back to him, simply to hold him close.

And Tino truly enjoyed that. Even if his heart would beat so fast every time Berwald was near him. The thing about Berwald was that he was completely incomprehensible. He had grown used to a world that followed certain logics, ideals and where you were expected to act in certain ways. Berwald was too old for such things, and couldn't understand the society of today, so he tended to stay away from it. He had formed his own rules. In one way, he was as much as a teenager as Tino was, a person who wanted something more in life.

And he seemed that he had found this thing within him, Tino.

But the more rational side of Tino told him that it was too early for anything like that. No, it wasn't just too early, it was a downright ludicrous thing. Romance was just an illusion. Tino found love such a hard thing to understand. And when he thought about those who had entered a bond of unity, like his parents once did, it even scared him.

"T'no?"

Tino jumped. Berwald stood right behind him, with five rabbits in one hand. Obviously, his hunt had gone well.

"Oh, sorry Berwald. I was just... I was just deep in thought." the younger man announced.

Berwald simply shrugged. But took Tino's hand in his rabbit-free one and stared deeply into the Finn's eyes.

Tino shivered, but not this time from fright. The last few days Berwald's intense gaze seemed to phase him less and less. It was something else that sparked as they spent more and more time together.

"L't's g' h'm'. (Let's go home.)" Berwald announced in Finnish, shaking Tino from his daydreams. The Swede had returned to speak more Finnish lately, in hopes to one day improve on it. Tino nodded and allowed Berwald to lead the way down the growing familiar path again. Tino allowed the taller man to lead him and didn't pay much attention to the path before he saw something white and small in front of him.

_Snow_

"Hey Berwald, look. It's snowing."

"Ja, 't 's. (Yes, it is)"

They stopped for a moment.

"It's pretty." Tino concluded happily.

Berwald nodded.

Their small cottage seemed almost deserted from the outside, but once they got in a warm fire greeted them. Berwald walked over to the pot, to cook the rabbits. There wasn't much food on any of them, but it would suffice for a good dinner for Tino.

Tino sat down by the table and waited. It was still dark outside, and gradually the days would be longer and longer. Tino wondered how Berwald would cope. He thought back to a conversation they had a while back.

-000-

A few nights ago

_It must have been way past midnight, but Tino didn't feel tired at all. He guessed his body was finally getting used to sleeping during the day. He blamed Berwald partially for this. The vampire had no sense for regular hours. Tino could understand it, after all the vampire had told him that the sun would destroy him. But at the same time Tino knew that this little knowledge wouldn't be able to help him. First of all, no one would believe his stories about the tall man. Secondly, he doubted anyone would be able to force Berwald out in the sun. He was probably the most frightening man he had ever met._

"_You're staring." Berwald muttered in his usual fashion._

_Tino near jumped. He didn't know what caused his sudden habit of spacing out, but he didn't like looking this easily frightened. Instead he said._

"_I... I was just curious."_

"_Yes?"_

"_Are there... well, you said that vampires create others like yourself. Who else is there? I mean, if I'm here with you I should know in case someone comes and knocks on the door."_

_Berwald looked at him, then suddenly he broke into small smile._

"_I don't think you need to worry. Mathias rarely comes all this way. My borders are pretty safe. Not to mention, I hear he has had his hands full lately."_

"_What do you mean?" Tino asked._

"_Mathias is technically my brother. Aldric, you remember, my Maker, changed us long ago on the same day. Annoyingly, he woke up the evening before me, so he became slightly older and he thinks it's important somehow. Anyway, we tend to fight, a lot. His territory is in Denmark, but he never seem to find enough excuses to come here. Luckily, he tends to go to my southwestern borders and rarely here, so for now we can be at peace."_

"_Okay." Tino said and put Mathias as one of those people he hoped wouldn't arrive anytime soon._

"_Then we have Gilbert, his territory is south of Mathias, but he sometimes travels north by ship. Gilbert is the related brother of Ludwig, and the two of them are known as two of the more powerful vampires here. You don't need to worry, they have shown little interest in my borders, though I know Ludwig and Mathias have constant fights of their borders."_

"_Right, anyone else?"_

"_Lately there was a new one. Mathias turned a priest son. His name is Lukas, and he lives near my western borders. He isn't as loud, and he fights Mathias more than he ever fights me. But he is skilled, I give him that. He's been close to killing me once, but that was most likely my mistake. I walked beyond my borders and he defended his. I cannot blame him for that. And there is lastly Ivan. He has expanding territory east, and it keeps growing. Which is why I am here now."_

_Tino suddenly got quite nervous._

"_You think he is going to attack you?"_

"_Don't know, but he has clashed with a number of us lately and I want my territory to be safe."_

_Tino trembled slightly._

"_Then, I hope I never have to meet him."_

-000-

Tino sighed as Berwald scooped up some stew into a bowl. Vampires seemed to be a complicated thing. The very idea that there were vampires who would want to claim his home scared him. Tino trusted Berwald to the extent that he didn't seem to kill to feed. Tino had seen him go after animals, but never humans and it made him feel calmer. But, he could imagine other vampires like Ivan to be bloodthirsty demons who would wipe the country clean from humans. Tino, like many nobles, didn't trust the neighbouring nations when it came to peace. Times had been peaceful, but who knew how long that would last?

"T'no?" Berwald patted him on the head. Tino looked up, and tried his best to smile.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking."

"'b't wh't? (About what?)" Berwald asked and placed the bowl in front of Tino.

"Oh, about what you told me about vampires the other day." Tino took the wooden spoon and started to eat. Berwald's cooking was amazing. He was stil thinking about the other vampires, and the awful feeling of fear seemed to fill his stomach more than the stew did. Tino put down his spoon, and Berwald looked at him as to ask what truly did bother him.

"Uhm Berwald... what if Ivan or those friends of his would come here?"

"Wh't d' y' m'n? (What do you mean?)"

"You... you once told me that you had built this as your territory, and others might want it. What... what would happen if one of them comes here?"

Berwald looked at him. But instead of answering him he patted him once more on the head.

" St'w g'd? (Stew good?)"

"Uhm, yes. It was delicious, as always." Tino said, wondering why Berwald didn't answer him.

"G'd. (Good.)"

They didn't talk more about it. Instead Tino figured he'd change the subject to talk about other things. Something about borders seemed to bug Berwald a lot. The young Finn wondered what a life would be if he too was a vampire. But he knew as well that he would have to make some grave sacrifices to do something like this. Berwald once said he had brothers that he had to abandon after he was turned. He couldn't imagine the horrible feeling it had to be, to give your life up. Tino still had goals he wanted to achieve. Like helping out his town, becoming a good aristocrat for these lands.

And he knew he would be too scared to be near any of these vampires that Berwald mentioned, because they all seemed to be so strong.

Berwald stood up and walked to the door. Tino followed him.

"Where are you going?" he asked the taller male.

"H'nt. (Hunt.)" Berwald explained.

"Why, you ate when you got me those rabbits. Didn't you?"

"T' sm'll. N'd s'm'th'ng b'gg'r. G'n' t' s' 'f I c'n c'tch m' d'r. (Too small. Need something bigger. Going to see if I can catch me deer.)" Berwald explained and left. Tino shrugged.

It was still dark out, but he didn't feel like waiting indoors. The wolves had left a while back, something seemed to have scared them off. Berwald had explained that it should be safe for Tino to go for shorter walks if he wished. All he needed to do was to tell Berwald before he left.

But Berwald was gone before he had the chance to ask him. The young Finn knew he should wait. But a short stroll to the stream wouldn't take more than a quarter of the time that Berwald used to hunt. He knew he shouldn't, but he figured Berwald wouldn't even notice.

Tino grabbed his coat and set out. He needed some fresh air. Now that the forest wasn't as scary as it seemed to be at first, he felt calmer about exploring it.

The stream was where Berwald would go to wash the dishes or wash the clothes. Lately Tino would help him as a favour of Berwald cooking all his food. Berwald had also taught a little about cooking. There were plenty of herbs that you could use to put amazing flavours to your food. Tino felt like he became more and more capable when Berwald would teach him something. In return, he figured he should teach Berwald proper speech, so that he wouldn't need to part translate every line to understandable Swedish. Berwald didn't speak Finnish, he tried but it was just too complicated.

Suddenly Tino heard a crack. He turned, alarmed thinking it was a large animal or something. He hoped it was just Berwald, who would most likely scold him for disobeying.

But it wasn't an animal.

Nor was it Berwald.

It was a man.

The man was dressed in a brown coat, and he stared wide-eyed at the young Finn.

"Master Väinämöinen? Sir Tino? We found you, finally!"

Tino blinked. He knew this man, but somehow he couldn't remember either his name or how he knew him. The man, whoever he was, carried a large riffle on his back, and the weapon seemed massive. Fear struck the young Finn, who backed slowly. Was this man set to kill him? Instead of waiting to find out Tino ran, hurried back towards the safety of the house.

But he didn't get far.

Tino didn't even get five feet away before someone grabbed him. The younger man struggled, but to no avail. His attacker was bigger, stronger and before Tino had the chance to shout for Berwald to save him, something hit him on the head and he blackened out.

-000-

It was morning when Tino finally awoke. He was lying down in soft linen sheets. He was sweating profusely, and his shirt stuck to his skin like glue. He felt faint, sick and didn't even know who he was or where this was.

A young lady, one he didn't recognise, sat beside him with a wet cloth that she dabbed on his sweaty forehead. He asked who she was, but his question simply sounded like a sick man's murmur, and she ignored him.

Tino closed his eyes again. It was bright, and the light hurt his eyes. He closed them and soon fell asleep once more.

He didn't wake up until the next day, when his fever was down and he started to remember where he was.

He was home.

-000-

Tino sat in bed a few days later. The maids that had been assigned to tend to him had brought up some gruel and beer. She also gave him several remedies, now that the fever was down. Most of them tasted horribly, but if it would cure him Tino could deal with it. After all, he knew how dangerous deceases could be.

The door opened as Tino's fathered entered. He was dressed in some of his finer clothes, so Tino guessed something important was soon to come. Tino watched as his father spoke to the maid, before she hurried off.

"Tino, feel better?" his father asked sternly. Tino nodded.

"Good." the older man said. "We've been worried. You left and no one knew where you were. Tino, it is completely unfit for a noble to disappear like this. Especially for times like these. We fired Olivia, she spread rumours about you in town. And we don't need rumours to grow now."

"Father I'm..." Tino sighed. He felt ashamed. "I'm sorry." He couldn't believe that he had allowed himself to stay with Berwald for this long.

Oh yes... Berwald.

Tino turned to gaze day-dreamingly out the window. The days he spent with Berwald somehow seemed like a far-off memory at the colours of his home. His father turned.

"Get better soon. We have many things to work on. Luckily, spring is here now. In a few days I expect our workers to return to the field, and you, as my own sole heir, will need to earn those vast lands. As your grandfather would have wanted it."

His father left. Tino leaned back on his pillows and sighed. His father's words didn't truly phase him. He had known all along that one day the little freedom he had would be wiped away, but honestly it bugged him. Maybe that could actually help him. People in this society only had one thing that gave the power. Birth, and he was one of those fortunate ones who had been born in the right family. But he liked freedom and people were never free here.

He'd have to let his own fantasies go. As he sat there the memories hit him bit by bit. He somehow felt himself missing Berwald terribly, but what could he do? The man wasn't even part of this world.

He knew he would need to return to his own path...

But it felt much more crooked and winding than ever.

Tino sighed.

-000-

_I just wish those pleasant days_

_would simple never come to seize._

-000-

**Trivia:**

**Romance: **I know this sounds weird in modern ears, but love wasn't a big thing in every day people's lives until a hundred years later. The idea of falling in love and marrying your love is mainly new... which is interesting considering how long these emotions have existed within humans beings. But through history we've done some really obscure things.

**Alcohol consumption:** Fresh water must have been a luxury, because it practically didn't exist. Especially in towns the water was completely undrinkable, and was more believed to carry deceases than help you. This most likely was true, due to the fact that water was so filthy bacteria must have thrived on it. And thus people believed that water was bad for you. In any case because water was undrinkable at this point of time, the most common beverage would be beer. Beer has been part of old North since the Viking age. Beer together with strong spirits (similar in strength to aquavit) were the more common drinks.

**Magic and medicine: **Magic was a common belief during this period of time, and has a long standing tradition in Swedish history. Although the Swedish science starts to form during this period of time, with great scientists as Carl von Linné and Anders Celsius, most people still believed that magic existed. For example, certain days were more magical than other and rituals were necessary to protect you from certain evils. Magic was also closely linked to medicine. Most deceases were believed to be cureable with magic, and thus they more than likely had tons of ways to cure things. Sadly, for this story, I was not able to find a specific way to cure high fevers. But herbs and certain food seem to be the most common way.


End file.
